Obituary of Ray Ward

Raymond E. Ward

Raymond Ernest Ward, born January 16, 1930, passed away on February 16, just a month after his 94^th birthday.  Ray was the only child of Ernest and Alice Ward in San Jose, CA.   Ray’s childhood was spent living at Alum Rock Park in San Jose where his Dad was park superintendent.  The park was his playground and he had many fond memories of his time there.  Ray’s Dad loved the ocean and bought a beach house in Santa Cruz within walking distance of the Boardwalk.  Ray and his Mom would spend the summers at the beach house enjoying the ocean and the Boardwalk.

When Ray was in his early teens, his Dad bought a small resort in Boulder Creek called Redwood Rest. 

In High School Ray attended Boulder Creek High.  He always said his favorite subject was P.E. and he played all four years on the High School basketball  team.

When Ray was a senior, He met the “love of his life” Sara Folk.  They were both involved in the Junior/Senior play and he fell in love.  After 8 months of dating, they were married on January 28, 1951.

Ray and Sara lived in Santa Cruz all their married life of 65 years and only purchased two homes.  They had two children Cindy (Pitter) 1959 and Donald 1961. 

Ray worked for the County of Santa Cruz.  He did Public Work Road Fleet Maintenance for 35 years until his retirement in 1992.  After retirement, he and Sara enjoyed working on their yard and house doing various projects.  They bought a motor home and traveled on many trips with their RV club and Sara’s sister Lorraine and her husband.

Ray loved collecting autographs of movie stars and famous people.  It was a passion and hobby that he started shortly after he got married and continued all his life.  He collected hundreds of autographed photos.  He had a room dedicated to his hobby with bookcases full of photos and walls covered with photos as well.  In his later years he began selling off some of his collection but

 he always had a hard time trying to decide which ones to sell. Ray also collected DVD’s and had an extensive collection of movies as well.  He loved going down to Streetlight in Santa Cruz and trading movies and building up his collection.

Ray is preceded in death by his wife Sara and his son-in-law Donald Pitter.  He leaves his daughter,

Cindy Pitter, son, Donald Ward (Aloma), 5 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren. 

A celebration of life for Ray will be held at Benito & Azzaro Pacific Gardens Chapel, 1050 Cayuga St. Santa Cruz, CA  95062 on March 23, 2024, 11:00 a.m.