"Ray" was the name he preferred. He was the eldest son of Willard and Thelma Pruiett. His parents lost a set of twin brothers between Ray and his next brother Bill and then Ron. His father was a farmer in Kansas when he was born in 1929. The drought caused Willard to lose his crops, so he left walking down the road to find work. He became a driller for oil and had to travel to the next job which caused the family to move frequently, causing Ray to attend many different schools while he was in grade school. In the meantime, Willard's father had moved to Oregon and started farming there. Willard eventually decided to move there with his family and did so with a pickup truck loaded down with the family and relatives. They got a farm near Salem. With the war starting in Europe, the farm prospered.

When Ray graduated from high school, he started college in Portland because of job opportunities. He had a year or more of schooling when the North Koreans invaded the South. The draft was restarted to supply enough troops, so Ray and some friends enlisted, but he had ROTC and was selected to travel with some men to another place. He ended up wading ashore at Inchon, Korea with the Third Army. He was in several fierce battles and after the general was fired by Truman, he was fighting Chinese as well and there were a lot of them. When his tour of duty was over, he was asked if he wanted to go to officer's school or go home. He went home and arrived in time to celebrate Father's Day with his dad!

Ray had the GI Bill now, so he returned to college at Oregon State University and finished his bachelor's degree in Education and his master's degree in Education in 1955. He had met and married Laurel Berg. After graduation he was hired to teach the college in Mount Vernon which was at the high school. He and Laurel had 3 sons: Brian, Sam, and Karel and adopted a baby girl, Jill.

Ray was selected to be the Associate Dean for Continuing Education at Skagit Valley College on the new campus or "the night/off-campus classes". Classes were at the Naval Base in Oak Harbor, Anacortes, college or wherever needed! Many a student was able to continue their education.

In 1974, Ray became the Director of Outdoor Education, his dream job! He got the chance to teach all the outdoor subjects he loved; skiing, canoeing, rock and mountain climbing, snow hiking and camping, backpacking, design and making of outdoor clothing for the outdoor sports.

Ray and Laurel divorced in 1974. Ray married Lois on August 8 ^th , her birthday, in the living room in front of some of their children. Ray and Lois were married 46 years and lived in the big Swiss style home. The 3-story house was filled with laughter often and shouts of grandchildren. She became Ray's caretaker 2 years ago and helped him until his death at home at 7:30 on March 12, 2022. He had told Lois this was where he wanted to die.

A celebration of life will be held on Friday, April 8, 2022 at 1:00pm at Hawthorne Funeral Home, Mount Vernon, WA.  Ray will be laid to rest at Tahoma National Cemetery, Kent, WA.

Please visit www.hawthornefh.com to share your thoughts and memories and sign the online guest register.

Arrangements are under the care of Hawthorne Funeral Home, Mount Vernon, WA.