Raymond Toth

Raymond (Ray) Dean Toth, 84, of Greeley, Colorado, passed away on July 7, 2025, due to complications from vascular dementia at UC Health Greeley Hospital.

Ray was born on Oct. 30, 1940, in Elkhart, Indiana. His parents were Thomas Toth and Beverly Toth. He was the oldest of three siblings. His younger siblings include his sister, Phyllis, and his brother, Robert (Bobby) (deceased).

As a child growing up in Elkhart, Ray grew up near water and was always thinking up creative ways to go faster with boats and homemade water toys. He loved his first car, a 1951 Ford Custom, which he talked about his entire life and had always hoped to find another to restore. He was passionate about old-school cars in general with a preference for old Fords and he had amassed a large collection of 1/18-scale diecast car models over the course of several years. He also grew up with Lionel trains and loved trains of all kinds up until the day he passed. Ray had most recently built two custom model train layouts in his last home. One was made with the same Lionel trains he had as a child. The other was a dedicated room in his house with HO scale trains he had collected over several decades.

Ray was extremely talented given he was also a master wood worker, master carpenter, a master mechanic, a master fixer, a master electrician, and a master builder. Ray had built several beautiful wooden toys over the years; most of which he donated to charity or gifted to family and friends.

He also loved to go camping with family and friends. He started camping in the 1960s with his young family and a large canvas tent. Over the years he and the family traveled in various RVs across the U.S. and Canada while spending several summers at his favorite place during the '70s, '80s and '90s, which was Lake Chelan in Washington state.

Ray graduated from Elkhart High School in Elkhart, Indiana, in 1958. After high school, Ray earned an electrical engineering degree from Tri-State College in Angola, Indiana, and went on to work for Westinghouse Electric, providing engineering support to various radar platforms across the country while living in several different states to include South Carolina, New Mexico, California, Maryland and Washington state. He was a key engineering architect for the AWACS project, which was awarded to Westinghouse in competition against Hughes by the Boeing Company in Seattle in 1972. He remained with Westinghouse in the Seattle area up until 1985 when he resigned and went to work for Boeing directly until he retired in 2001.

While living in the Seattle area, Ray was quite active with the community and was a very active supporter of the Special Olympics for many years. He and his wife, Nancy, raised their sons, Darrin and Robert (Bob) in the Pacific Northwest. Shortly after retiring, he and Nancy moved to Eaton, Colorado, to spend their golden years together.

Ray is survived by his two sons, Darrin, 60, and Robert, 57, along with their spouses, Karen and Jillene, respectively. Ray is also survived by his three grandchildren, Ashley Olson, Zachary Toth and Mackenzie Toth, and his one great-grandson, Nathan Olson. He is also survived by his second wife, Beatrice Toth, and his sister, Phyllis Wolschlager.

Ray was married to his first wife, Nancy, in June of 1960 for over 52 years. Nancy was the mother of his two sons and the love of his life. Nancy passed away in 2013 only months before their 53rd wedding anniversary. His younger brother, Bobby, passed away in 1968 as a U.S. Marine during the Vietnam War. His mother, Beverly Toth, passed away in 2008. His father, Thomas Toth, passed away in 1992.

There is no memorial service or celebration of life planned for Raymond, but the family would like to share their thanks and appreciation to Pastor Mike Self and the congregation at High Plains Harvest Church in Ault, Colorado, who were all there for the family and for Ray over the past handful of years.