Raymond Ramage

The Rev. Raymond Crawford Ramage, M.D., former surgeon and ordained Episcopal priest, died on Wednesday, August 10, 2005, at the age of 85.

Born in Lafayette, Alabama, he was the son of the late Raymond Brock Ramage, M.D., and Martha Cornelia Jernigan Ramage, and spent his childhood in Jacksonville, Florida. Dr. Ramage was a graduate of the University of Florida and Duke University School of Medicine, where he also completed his internship. A veteran of World War II, Dr. Ramage served as a surgeon in the Army Medical Corps from 1944 to 1946 in the Pacific Theater, which included Saipan, Tenian and Iwo Jima. After WWII, he was Chief Resident in Surgery and Instructor in Surgery at the University of Alabama Medical Center in Birmingham, Alabama.

In 1953, Dr. Ramage began his medical practice in Greenville in general and thoracic surgery. In 1969, he became Director of Medical Education of the Greenville Hospital System and later was appointed as Associate Dean and Professor of the Medical University of South Carolina. From 1982 to 1986, Dr. Ramage returned to Florida and served as the Vice President of Medical Education of the Orlando Regional Medical Center and Professor of Surgery and Associate Dean of the University of Florida. Upon his return to Greenville in 1986, Dr. Ramage continued to assist the Greenville Hospital System in its physician recruitment efforts. From 1979 to 1982, he served as chairman of a task force on graduate medical education charged with developing and integrating South Carolina's medical education schools and teaching hospitals, and he served as Governor Carroll Campbell's appointee on the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education from 1988 to 1996. During his medical career, Dr. Ramage was a member of the Joint Commission of the Re-accreditation of Hospitals, the American Medical Association, the American Thoracic Society, the South Carolina Medical Association, the South Carolina Surgical Association, the Florida Medical Association and the Societe Internationale de Chirurgie; a Diplomate of the American Board of Surgery, the National Board of Medical Examiners; and a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, the Southern Surgical Association and the Southeastern Surgical Congress.

In 1972, Dr. Ramage was ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church, having previously been ordained as a Perpetual Deacon in 1969. Over the past thirty years, he has served continuously on the clergy of either Christ Church (Episcopal) of Greenville, All Saints Episcopal Church of Winter Park, Florida, or All Saints Episcopal Church of Linville, North Carolina. Although his second vocation in life, Raymond's service in the priesthood proved the most meaningful to him personally and professionally during his later years. He would serve as a mentor and friend to all of his grandchildren, having baptized each of them.

Dr. Ramage was a member of the St. Andrews Society of Upper South Carolina, serving as chaplain for a number of years, and the Downtown Greenville Rotary Club. As a community member, clergy member, father and grandfather, he was a passionate supporter of Christ Church Episcopal School from its inception, where all of his children and grandchildren are alumni or currently enrolled.

Dr. Ramage is survived by his wife of 58 years, Marguerite Getaz Taylor Ramage; his three children and their spouses: Marguerite Ramage Wyche and her husband Madison Baker Wyche, III; Martha Louise Ramage Lewis and her husband LeRoy Baskin Lewis, Jr., all of Greenville, and Raymond Crawford Ramage, Jr. and his wife Laura Smith Ramage of Freeport, Maine. He is also survived by five grandchildren: Madison Baker Wyche IV and his wife Hillary McMillan Wyche; James Ramage Wyche and his wife Sally Hubbard Wyche, all of Charlotte, North Carolina; Laura MacBeth Ramage of Freeport, Maine; and Crawford Baskin Lewis and Alston Ramage Lewis, both of Greenville.

Services will be held at Christ Church (Episcopal) today, August 13, 2005, at 1:00 p.m. in Greenville, S.C. Interment will follow in the Christ Church (Episcopal) graveyard. The family will be at home at 134 Rockingham Road in Greenville, S.C.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to either: Christ Church (Episcopal), Rector's Discretionary Fund, 10 North Church Street, Greenville, SC 29601; Christ Church Episcopal School Endowment Fund, 145 Cavalier Drive, Greenville, SC 29607; or to the Continuing Medical Education Endowment Fund, c/o Office of Philanthropy and Partnership of Greenville Hospital System, 255 Enterprise Boulevard, Greenville, SC 29615.