Raymond Charles Dunn's Obituary
Raymond Charles Dunn passed away on November 4, 2024 of natural causes. He was born on March 26, 1937 in the Elizabeth Steel Magee Hospital in the city of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.
He was dedicated to the Lord by his parents on November 14, 1938 at West End Methodist Church, Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.
When he was young, he lived in Banksville, Union Township, Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. His great grandparents Edward and Margaret Brazell lived in the other side of the double house on Chappel Avenue. Later he moved to Dormont, a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and lived at 3221 Beacon Hill Avenue, a house built several years before by his Grandfather Louis W. Fink. It was the home where his mother lived before being married to his father. This was also the home where his father later died in 1944.
Raymond was seven when his father Charles Eli Dunn died of a heart attack in his sleep in Oct 1944. He, his mother, and sister moved in with his mother’s parents Louis and Lena Fink. They lived on Irishtown Road in Bethel Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.
Raymond had exceptionally good memories of the three years he spent at the Fink's home. His Grandfather, who he called "Pap," was a retired Carpenter and home building contractor, and at that time, an active turkey farmer.
In November of 1947, his mother planned a family vacation to Florida for Ray and his sister, to give the grandparent Finks a rest. On the day before they were to leave for Florida, his mother met an old boyfriend named Carl McGuire, who she had dated before marrying his father. Carl quickly quit his job and came along on the trip. Carl and his mother Ruth were married on the second day of the trip to Florida, in Savannah, Georgia. they proceeded on to Florida, sightseeing and vacationing along the way, but when his new stepdad Carl, could not find work in Florida, they returned to Tybee Island, Georgia, which was near Savannah, where they stayed for a few months.
Raymond attended the one room schoolhouse on Tybee Island, Georgia which was also known as Savannah Beach. It was here that he skipped most of the fourth grade and part of the fifth. Since he had attended a "Northern School" in Pennsylvania, that was considerably ahead of the Georgia Schools at the time, he was moved from the fourth grade to the fifth grade. In this school they fed all the students grits and corn bread!
While living on Tybee Island, he enjoyed the beach and the nearby abandoned old Revolutionary and Civil War forts and fortifications, Fort Pulaski in particular. Ray’s new stepdad Carl, who was a welder, was temporarily employed as a house painter.
The family needed a better source of income, so they moved north to Ohio, after a few months.
Raymond then lived in Vermilion, Ohio, where he went to school in grades six through nine. Stepdad Carl worked as a welder for the American Shipbuilding Company in Lorain, Ohio and later for the Spohn Corporation in Cleveland.
Raymond enjoyed growing up in Vermilion, where he spent many days swimming and boating with friends. His first job at age eleven was a car hop at the first frozen custard stand in town where his sister Dolly worked as the food preparer. He next had a Cleveland News paper route and later a Lorain Journal paper route. The first paper route was a small route with about thirty-five customers, but the Journal route was several hundred customers, comprising the entire town.
While living in Vermilion he was first a Boy Scout and later a Sea Scout and advanced to Life Scout level. He attended the 1950 National Jamboree at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. He was also an assistant to a local Magician for a few local shows.
During these years, his family made monthly trips back to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to visit his grandparents, who also came to visit them in Ohio. The summer when he was fourteen, he spent three months helping Pap Fink build a new house on Wainebelle Avenue in Dormont, where the Finks had moved and lived next to the lot where the new house was being built. Although Pap subcontracted much of the construction, Raymond learned many of his lifetime skills from that experience.
In 1952 their family moved from Vermilion to 2169 West 95TH Street in Cleveland, Ohio to cut down on his dad’s travel time to and from work as well as the wear and tear on the family car. His dad’s work was principally on the east side of Cleveland and a long way from Vermilion. His mother would take his dad to work each morning, and return to Vermilion for the day and then pick him up later, just to use the car, and all without the freeways of today!
After moving to Cleveland, Raymond attended West Technical High School, at West 93rd Street and Williard Avenue, which was less than a block from his house. He took college prep and technical courses there that included all math, calculus, and aircraft technical courses which allowed him to acquire several wide-ranging skills including instruments, hydraulics, airframes, and aircraft engine repair.
Raymond worked part time at The Ceramic Mart, a store that sold lamps, shades, and ceramics. He did all the lamp wiring, stocking, and later deliveries and pickups. Having acquired his driver’s license, he was allowed to drive his mother’s car to work and back.
It was in October 1953, when he was a Senior, that he met Paula, when she came to West Tech as a Sophomore. They had their first date on December 4, 1953. Paula and Raymond celebrated December 4th just like their wedding anniversary every year.
It was in the spring of 1952 that his sister Dolly started to go with the local church youth group at Madison Avenue Baptist Church, located on Madison Avenue at West 95th Street, which was at the end of their street. After Dolly was saved, she wanted Raymond to come to know the LORD too. He started going to "Youth for Christ" meetings with the youth group and was led to the LORD by Rev. Roy Hendershot, after a "Youth for Christ" meeting in December 1953, held at WHK Radio Auditorium, Cleveland, Ohio. He continued to date Paula and brought her to church and youth meetings and social functions. It was only a brief time before Paula also accepted the Lord and was saved.
Raymond was Baptized 11 April 1954 at Madison Ave Baptist Church, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio. He then joined that church.
Raymond was received into the membership of the Madison Avenue Baptist Church at Cleveland, Ohio on the 18th day of April 1954. Russell R. Camp, Pastor.
Raymond’s best friend during this time was (George) Wesley Burnett who dated and later married Patsy Benson, another of the girls from the church youth group. They later had a daughter named Colleen, who became Paula and Raymond’s Daughter-in-Law in 1984 when she and Dale were married.
Raymond graduated in June 1954 from West Technical High School, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio. He graduated with a College Prep status with additional technical training in Aircraft.
Raymond stopped dating Paula for a time, in April 1954 before his graduation from high school. He soon missed Paula and in September 1954 renewed their dating. Then he gave her a betrothal ring on June 25, 1955.
Raymond had difficulty getting a job when he graduated at just age seventeen. At the time companies could only hire eighteen-year-olds full time. Finally, he got a job at The Glidden (Paint) Company as a Mail Clerk. It was a good, fun job but hardly a future, for one who was already thinking of marriage, so he kept on looking.
Paula and Raymond were married on Thursday, August 4th, 1955. They were married at Madison Avenue Baptist Church by Pastor Edward Morrell Jr., with his sister, Thelma Marie (Dolly) Dunn as Maid of Honor, and Guy Leroy Custer, his Best Man. They honeymooned in Michigan over the weekend, after a first wedding night in Toledo where they stayed in the Commodore Perry Hotel! The Loepp's held an after-ceremony party at their home. Everyone thought that they were too young and that it would not last. Raymond was 18 1/2 and Paula just seventeen. Both parents had to sign for them to get a marriage license. After the wedding they lived for three months with Paula's parents, Bertha, and Paul Loepp.
Raymond’s Adult Working Career
A lady from his church worked at NASA's Lewis Flight Research Center and arranged for Raymond to be interviewed for a job as a Scientific Aide in Physics. He was hired and was to report for work in a month. Conditions for the job were that he must proceed to get a degree from college to maintain employment. He enrolled for college at Fenn University in Cleveland, but he never really got started because one night at a Youth function, another church member, a chaperone, who at that time had a good job with AT&T, suggested that Wesley Burnett and Raymond seek jobs at the "Telephone Company", who were hiring. He went the next day to Ohio Bell Telephone Company and was hired as a Walking Installer in downtown Cleveland. Wesley thinking that Western Electric was the Telephone Company went to them and was hired. They both started the same day, Oct. 31st, 1955, at different branches of the old "Bell System". Raymond told NASA he would be late starting there and tried OBT first. When he liked the OBT job, he then declined the NASA job opportunity. The NASA job might have been good if he had taken it. Forty years later there was a special on TV about this group who played a significant role in the emerging space program. Who knows what opportunities he had missed!
Raymond’s first District Manager at Ohio Bell turned out to be his old Boy Scout Leader from Vermilion. Much later on in his working career at Ohio Bell, he would hold this same District Level job.
It turned out that Ohio Bell Telephone Company (OBT) was good for Raymond. He worked his way through an apprentice program at low wages, which increased slightly every six months over five years. There was always overtime though and they made it through the lean years with their young sons.
Raymond’s Management Working Career
Raymond’s management occupation between the fall of 1967 through retirement in May of 1986, included time spent as a Foreman, Supervising Foreman, Manager, and District Manager, in all areas of the State of Ohio and Headquarters Staff for Ohio Bell Telephone Company and in New Jersey for periods with AT&T.
Their Married Life
Paula and Raymond moved to a rental place of our own in the fall of 1955. Our first son Raymond Gary was born June 11th, 1956. Shortly thereafter they moved to Lakewood, Ohio, a west side suburb, on the first floor of a double, where his sister Dolly lived upstairs with her husband Guy Custer. After a couple of years there they contracted to buy a house in Brook Park, Ohio. In order to save the required down payment, they moved back in with Bertha and Paul Loepp for what was to be a couple of months. As it turned out they were there for nine months, through September 1959. Our second son Dale Charles was born September 25th, 1959. Paula left the Loepp's home to go to the Berea Hospital and came home to their new house in Brook Park, Ohio. They lived there 11 years before moving to North Ridgeville, Ohio in January 1971. They spent 24 years in North Ridgeville.
Other Interests
Raymond was a Boy Scout leader while in Brook Park, Ohio. He was active in supporting the North Ridgeville High School Band in North Ridgeville, Ohio, holding offices in the Band Boosters and active in Band Camp. He became a Mills Creek Association Trustee after moving to the Mills Creek Subdivision in North Ridgeville, Ohio in 1971. At First Baptist Church of North Ridgeville, Ohio, he was a Sunday School Assistant Superintendent, Trustee, Deacon, and Auditor. He also held offices in the Key Harbor Boat Club, in Vermilion, Ohio, when a part of that organization.
Raymond worked part time in a Standard Oil of Ohio (Sohio) service station in 1957 when OBT was on strike, and continued there through 1960. He was a part time electrician with Bob's Electric Company in 1958 through 1964 and it was here he learned the electric trade. Over several years he built or assisted in the construction of many houses, room additions, and church buildings. After retiring in 1986 he kept busy several months a year for many years, doing home additions, window replacements, house siding and erecting pole barn buildings, in addition to a host of smaller jobs and working at all their local churches. By 1992 he had traveled to Hawaii, New Mexico and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania with the church teams to build new buildings. He did major construction and remodeling of most of the church structure at Abbe Road Baptist Church in Elyria, Ohio when attending there. It never mattered to him what needed to be done from hand digging footers or postholes to finish carpentry. He did his own masonry, plumbing, electrical, and anything else needed. He came by these talents by the grace of GOD. His father was a skilled inventor and both grandfathers were exceptionally talented. Having a stepdad that was also a welder and plumber helped too. Electrical, data and computer skills which came through his telephone company career at OBT helped immensely. He always said there were many right ways to accomplish any task, and set out to plan, organize, and complete any job given to him in the shortest possible time and with a positive can-do attitude. He always looked for ways to improve on how a job is done. These were his excitements and challenges. He had always considered himself a diligent worker and never asked anyone to do something that he would not do himself, more often preferring to do the job since he was somewhat of a perfectionist.
After moving to Florida full-time in 1995, they had a new house built in New Port Richey FL. Later in 1999, they moved to a second new home in Hudson FL. Then in Sep 2019 they sold that home of 20 years and moved to Southside, Alabama where Dale and Colleen had moved to be near her parents.
Ministry Work
During this time in Florida, Raymond spent the first six years as a Deacon and a financial and planning leader in his church, Living Word Church of New Port Richey, Florida, where he worked to construct four new buildings, an investment of over three million dollars. He worked many long hours at all types of tasks during and after the construction of this complex.
In 2002 They moved their church membership to First Baptist Church of New Port Richey where he took a less involved role and a well-earned sabbatical! He held the office of Deacon there.
In December 2010 they moved their church membership to Faith Baptist Church of New Port Richey, Florida where he continued to enjoy a laid-back role. Then in 2019 they joined with Meadowbrook Baptist Church in Gadsden, AL.
Hobbies
Raymond spent many hours of his spare time doing genealogical research on the extended family which now exceeds 176500 persons.
Raymond loved to read, usually mysteries and working on puzzles.
Paula went to be with her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on March 26, 2023. She was 84 years old. Her family was by her side when she passed.
Raymond is survived by his two sons, Raymond G. Dunn and Deb Dunn (nee Boland), and Dale C. Dunn and Colleen Dunn (nee Burnett), as well as five of his six grandchildren: Ali Cobb (nee Dunn) and husband Hank Cobb, Andrew Dunn, Matthew Dunn and wife Hannah (nee Pendleton), Bryan Dunn, and Mallory Bramlett (nee Dunn) and husband Adam Bramlett, and his first great granddaughter Skyle Ruth Bramlett.
Raymond is preceded in death by his wife, Paula K. Dunn, and his parents, Charles ‘Chuck’ Dunn, and Ruth Leona Dunn (nee Fink), and his grandson Kyle Matthew Dunn.
Visitation will be from 10AM until 12PM on Wednesday, November 13, 2024 at Sunset Memorial Chapel, North Olmsted, Ohio. There will be a brief graveside service at noon.
In lieu of flowers, the family is accepting donations to The Kyle Dunn Memorial Fund, c/o Meadowbrook Church, 2525 Rainbow Drive, Gadsden, AL 35901.
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