Raymond Andrew Harman Jr.

Raymond A. Harman, Jr., Major, USAF (Ret.), age 89, died at his home in Sherman on Wednesday, September 3. He passed away after a brief, and hard-fought illness. Ray's beloved wife, Patsy predeceased him on April 27, 2025.

Ray was born March 29, 1936, in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the oldest of four children born to Raymond A. Sr. and Dorothy Blancett Harman. He grew up and attended schools in Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Alabama, Georgia, and Virginia. After graduating from Culpeper High School (VA), in 1954, he attended the University of Virginia and then enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. Upon completion of Aviation Cadet training, Ray was commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant and his mom pinned on his U.S.A.F. pilot wings at Bryan AFB, Texas, in February 1958.

While training as an all-weather interceptor pilot in the F-86 Sabre at Perrin AFB, Ray met Patsy VanKirk, the girl who was to become his wife. After a whirlwind 6-week courtship, they married in Denison in August 1958. Ray and Pat were blessed with 66 years together. For 18 of those years, Ray and Pat raised their two children as they moved around the world with military assignments in Minnesota, Florida, Alaska, New Mexico, Germany, and Alabama. In 1966-67, during the Vietnam Conflict, Ray flew 198 combat missions over North and South Vietnam and Laos as an F-4 Phantom Aircraft Commander.

In 1976, Ray retired from the Air Force, and he and Pat settled in Sherman, where he worked for Grayson College, Monsanto, El Dorado Chemical Company, and McCoy's Building Supply. After final retirement, Ray became a tour guide at Cavanaugh Flight Museum in Addison, where he was able to continue to share his knowledge and love of planes and flight with others.

In addition to Pat, Ray was preceded in death by his parents and sisters Linda Harman and Sally Peters. Ray leaves behind his son Jeffrey K. Harman and daughter-in-law Caroline of Princeton, TX; daughter Anne Ray Carlisle and son-in-law Karl of Shelbyville, IN; granddaughter Rachel Lauermann and husband, David of Anderson, IN; grandson, Paul Carlisle of Indianapolis, IN; two great-grandsons, Isaac and Owen Lauermann of Anderson, IN; and sister Doe Mahanes of Portland, ME.

Ray was a member of First Baptist Church, Sherman. Ray loved his Lord, his family, his country, and all things aeronautical.

Visitation with the family will be held on Wednesday, September 10 at Waldo Funeral Home, 9:30 -10:30 AM, followed by a memorial service. Interment with full military honors will be at Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery, 1:15PM on September 10.

Ray asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to The Salvation Army, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Homes for Our Troops, or a charity of choice.