Raymond E. Dunn

1940 - 2025

Raymond E Dunn

May 13, 1940 - April 27, 2025

Portland, Oregon - "I am pieces of all the places I have been and all the people I have loved. I've been stitched together by song lyrics, book quotes, adventures, late night conversation, moonlight, and the smell of coffee." - Brooke Hampton.

"I'm sorry I'm gone folks I loved you everyone" - Ray Dunn

Ray Dunn was a "Renaissance Man", who will never be forgotten by his friends. An avid reader, he educated himself, and became a successful businessman, and a sailboat captain. His wisdom was always welcome, and he knew something about nearly everything.

When his father left his mother with 3 young boys, they moved from Oregon to Kansas where he found himself with a new stepfather and the dull job harvesting sunflowers. The Midwest wasn't his thing, and as soon as he could fake his age, he joined the Navy and travelled the world. There were myths about being kicked out for playing cards and another about being hit by a flying beer bottle for saying something untoward about the Queen in an English pub. The scar lasted longer than his naval career.

Upon his return, he worked at a sawmill in Eugene, Oregon, where he married Opal Akin, and had two boys, Mitch and Daniel. He took in a couple of homeless kids, and needing more money, took a second job at Rico's Pizza parlor. Soon, he was promoted to manager, then General Manager and partner of the Pizza parlor chain. He divorced Opal, moved to Portland, and supported his family from a distance.

Ray was motivated to succeed. The popular restaurants expanded from just one to seven, located from Eugene to Bellingham, where he met and married Taimi Young. At that time, he took up sailing on the Columbia River on a small yellow British boat he named the "Lemon Limey".

When Round Table Pizza purchased Rico's, he and Taimi moved to Bellingham, where he would perfect his sailing skills and win many races as a member and Commodore of the Corinthian Yacht Club on his Cal 25, "The Shedonist".

He sold his shares of Rico's Pizza and opened a Fairhaven Restaurant in 1985, known as The Colophon Café beside the famous Village Books. The Café was so successful, there were lines out the door from the day it opened. Ray became known for his homemade soups and enormous desserts, while the restaurant became famous all over the country as a place for unique, delicious and healthy foods. He published the cookbook "20,000 Gallons of Chowder" and co-wrote 3 Colophon Café cookbooks.

He purchased a larger sailboat for cruising the San Juan Islands and beyond. Ray named his boat "The Rubaiyat" after his favorite book. His dinghy was known as "Omar". Friends invited him on many adventures from sailing the west coast, the east coast, through the Panama Canal and more. After running the café for 15 years, Ray decided it was time to retire and spend more time on the water. He sold the café to a long-time employee. He and Taimi went their separate ways.

Ray then met Kitty Gallagher in Bellingham, and they remained together for the rest of his life, trading sailing for land yachts (RVs), and volunteering as camp hosts in national parks. Their postings offered a chance to share history and wildlife information with park visitors, while living in several of the most scenic places in the country, including Crystal Cove, California, where they enjoyed hiking and biking together.

Upon retirement they relocated to Portland, Oregon, to be near their children and grandchildren. They developed close relationships with all. When Ray developed heart problems, Kitty, having had a nursing background, took phenomenal care of him.

Ray will be missed by many friends and family. His ashes will join the Columbia River, where he first set sail, and memorials are up to his friends to organize. He never was much for funerals.

His birthdate was the same as Omar Kayyam, and he felt a kinship with the book Rubaiyat and its most famous line:

"Set not thy heart on any good or gain, Life means but pleasure or means but pain; when Time lets slip a little perfect hour, O take it - for it will not come again. Like the autumn leaves; breath by breath, they're falling off."