Dr. Winthrop Curtis Ray

Dr. Winthrop (Win) Curtis Ray of Sykesville, Maryland, (formerly of Charlottesville, Virginia) died peacefully in the care of Fairhaven / Acts Retirement community on November 15, 2023. Win (fondly referred to as 'Dr. Ray' by the whole Fairhaven community) was born December 23, 1928 in Greenfield, Massachusetts to Marvin Whitman Ray and Gladys Louise Gordon Ray, the youngest of five children. He married Margaret Barton Farr (Peggy) on June 22, 1952, who preceded him in death, June 21, 2006. He is survived by his three children and their spouses: James Curtis and Amy Griffin Ray, of Lynchburg, Va, William Scott and Cathy Robbins Ray of Midlothian, Va, and Elizabeth (Liz) Ray Brooks and Thomas Leonard Brooks, Jr. of Sykesville, Md. He was immensely proud of his grandchildren: Tyler Robbins Ray (Monica) and Hunter McKenzie Ray Klump (Allen), Thomas Winthrop Brooks (Heather), Jacob William Brooks (Stephanie), Samuel Whitman Brooks, Benjamin Wayne Brooks, Maxwell Walter Ozborne Brooks, and Nathaniel Wray Brooks. He was blessed with two great-grandchildren: Kian Hezekiah Ray and McKenzie Jean Klump. He is also survived by a sister and brother-in-law, Marilyn and Arthur Douglass of Holliston, MA, and many nieces and nephews and great nieces and nephews. Win’s father owned a furniture business in Greenfield, Massachusetts, which succumbed to the financial pressures of the Depression in the mid 1930’s, leading the family to join his Grandfather and Grandmother Ray in Brookline, Massachusetts, where he lived until his marriage in 1952. He first met his wife at his brother’s wedding to Peggy’s first cousin years before they ever started dating. It was a day she never forgot, and he never remembered. Conveniently she went to nursing school at the New England Deaconess Hospital in Boston, not far from Win’s family home in Brookline, and they began dating while he was home on summer break from college. They married upon her graduation from nursing school and subsequently moved to Michigan, where he was still in Veterinary School. Win graduated from Michigan State University in 1953 with a Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine (DVM) and was inducted into the National Veterinary Honor Society (Phi Zeta). After graduating from Michigan State, the Air Force sent him to Germany for two years with his wife and very young son. While there he was stationed at Spangdalem AFB where he was responsible for patching up the German Shepherd guard dogs and for ensuring the safety of the food supply on base. Upon leaving the military as Captain Ray, Win worked for the Department of Agriculture as a District Veterinarian in St. Albans, Vermont, and later as a District Veterinarian in Whitehall, Wisconsin. He was given a special assignment in 1958 and posted to the University of Wisconsin to study Brucellosis, where he completed a Master’s in epidemiology and microbiology in 1960. After graduation, Win took his family to Olympia, Washington in the beautiful Pacific Northwest, where he was responsible for disease eradication in a five-state area. While there, the family took numerous trips to the Olympic Peninsula and to Mount Rainier. After four delightful years in Olympia, Win was reassigned to the Department of Agriculture's Animal Plant and Health Inspection Service (APHIS) head office in Hyattsville, Maryland. He published a number of papers on the subject of Brucellosis epidemiology and contributed several chapters on that subject to cattle disease books. He retired from APHIS in 1984 as the Chief Staff Veterinarian for Brucellosis Epidemiology. His work on eradicating Brucellosis took him to all fifty states, and to many countries, including Australia, France, Poland, South Korea, Costa Rica, Chile, and Russia (during the cold war at the Russian government’s request). Win was an enthusiastic genealogist, taking several trips to his ancestral home in Maine to research family history. He was also a dedicated gardener, raising a variety of vegetables from a small backyard plot which became significantly larger after his move to Charlottesville, where he became a Master Gardener and was quite active with the local Master Gardeners for many years. He and his wife were faithful members of Meadows Presbyterian Church in Charlottesville for over 30 years, and they both made many friends in the rural Albemarle county subdivision of Solaris. Throughout his life, Win was known for his incredible work ethic (an ethic which he passed on to his three children), his unwavering integrity, his wonderful sense of humor, his ability to laugh at himself, his calm demeanor, and his strong commitment to his family. He had a tremendous love of the great outdoors and in his later years took great pleasure in walking the trails at Fairhaven. He leaves a beautiful legacy of love and laughter and will be greatly missed by all who knew and loved him. There will be a small private memorial service. If you would like to remember Dr Ray, a contribution to the Alzheimer’s Association is suggested (https://act.alz.org).

Dr. Winthrop Curtis Ray

December 23, 1928 - November 15, 2023