Raymond J. Oliver

Raymond J. Oliver
Raymond J. Oliver, age 84, of Trumbull, the beloved widower of Myra M. Oliver, passed away on May 17, 2022 at St. Vincent's Medical Center. He was born in Waterbury, the eldest child to the late Raymond E. Oliver and Rita (Hartigan). Ray grew up working side by side with his parents in the family grocery business, Oliver's Brothers Market, on East Main Street in Waterbury. He later served in the Army Reserves before becoming a long-time salesman for Metropolitan LIfe insurance company.
Ray met the love of his life, Myra, on a blind date in the late 1950s. They were married for 48 years, settling in Trumbull in 1968, before her passing in 2008. Their marriage produced four sons, and more than 30,000 new American citizens, due to Myra's work resettling immigrants into a new life in the United States as the long-time executive director of the International Institute of Connecticut in Bridgeport.
Ray received a bachelor's degree from Fairfield University, the first in his family to graduate college. His mother Rita saved spare change from the family's market to help put him through school.
Ray was an avid runner and swimmer. He ran in 21 New York City marathons and more than 30 overall. He was a gentle, honest, modest, deeply religious man of incredible integrity. He had deep love for God, his church, his wife, his family, his friends and animals, especially dogs. Ray made an immediate and lasting impact on anyone who met him. He was a man of few words, but had a wealth of wisdom. He dedicated his adult life to serving at St. Theresa's Church as a lay person, often as a reader at Sunday Mass or bringing communion to the sick and infirmed.
Ray was a volunteer for several organizations, including serving as a volunteer at St. Vincent's Hospital in Bridgeport, CT, performing in the same capacity as he did at his church.
Ray always had a "take-one-day-at-a-time" approach to life, trusting in God every day. He never bragged about himself, but only of his wife, family and friends. He was the rock of his family and he will be deeply missed and never forgotten.
He is survived by his children, TImothy Oliver and his wife Teresa of New York City, James Oliver and his wife Yanet of Oviedo, Florida, Raymond Oliver and his wife Shelly of Oviedo, Florida, John Oliver and his wife Marlene of Folly Beach, South Carolina; his brother Robert and his wife Priscilla of North Chatham, Massachusetts; grandchildren: Caity, Christopher, Claire, Clayton, Daniel, John Henry, Jonathan and Nichole; great-grandchildren: Levi and Myla. His sister, Kathleen Shattuck, predeceased him.
Friends are invited to attend his funeral service on Monday, May 23, at 11:00 a.m. at St. Theresa Church, 5301 Main St. Trumbull. Interment will follow in Lawncroft Cemetery in Fairfield. Friends may greet the family on Sunday, May 22, from 2-6 p.m. at the Cyril F. Mullins Funeral Home, 399 White Plains Rd. Trumbull. To leave an online condolence, please visit www.mullinshfh.com . In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to St. Theresa Church, 5301 Main Street, Trumbull, CT 06611 and the Connecticut Institute for Refugees and Immigrants (formerly the International Institute of Connecticut), 670 Clinton Avenue, Bridgeport, CT 06605