Charles L. Ray

Charles L. Ray of Wheaton since 1958 Funeral services for Charles L. Ray will be held at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, at Williams-Kampp Funeral Home, 430 E. Roosevelt Road (one block east of Naperville Road), Wheaton. Born Dec. 29, 1929, in Gifford, Ill., he died Saturday, March 8, 2003, at Central DuPage Hospital, Winfield, of complications from COPD and emphysema. Interment will be in Wheaton Cemetery following the services. Mr. Ray grew up in Rantoul, Ill. and graduated from Rantoul Township High School in 1947. He married Patricia Ann Charnes of Champaign in 1950 and was drafted into the Army during the Korean War. After basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., he served a tour of duty there before being assigned to the Army headquarters at Camp Drake near Tokyo, Japan, and was discharged as a staff sergeant in 1953. Mr. Ray attended the University of Arizona in Tucson, where he received a bachelor of science degree in metallurgical engineering. After graduating, he was employed as an applications research engineer with the former Armour Industrial Chemicals Division in Chicago, where several U.S. and foreign patents were issued under his name. He held a succession of management positions with that company as it changed ownership and identities over the years, ending his career there as manager of materials control. Prior to his final retirement in 1993, he was a project planner and buyer for E.G. Home Centers, headquartered in Carol Stream. During his lifetime, Mr. Ray developed diverse interests and hobbies including wilderness camping, fresh water fishing, building custom-made fishing rods, painting landscapes and wildlife scenes in oil and acrylics, perennial gardening and computer flight simulation. He also enjoyed writing and was invited to be a contributing author for a commemorative 50th anniversary volume published by the American Institute of Mining & Metallurgical Engineers. In 1995 and 1996, he wrote articles about his experience as an emphysema patient undergoing experimental lung surgery which were published in The Pulmonary Paper, a periodical dedicated to lung disease. Most recently, he researched, authored and published books detailing the genealogy of his and his wife's families and the origins and ethnic history of their ancestors. Charles is survived by his wife, Patricia; children, Christine (Richard) Tibbits of Prospect Heights, Jeffrey of Ann Arbor, Mich., Douglas of Chicago and Diane (Michael) Frantzen of Hinckley; grandchildren, Kimberly Ray and William Charles Frantzen; and a number of nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by an infant daughter, Cheryl Ann Ray; parents, Charles Ray and Bessie Ray (nee Wilfong) of Rantoul and Tucson, Ariz.; and sisters, Evelyn (Joseph) Ciskowski and Doris (Gordon) Warren. Visitation will be from 4 to 9 p.m. today, at the funeral home. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the American Lung Association. Friends may visit www.dailyherald.com/obits to express condolences and sign the guest book. For funeral information, (630)668-0016.