Raymond Macfarlane REID

REID, Raymond Macfarlane
November 3, 1927 - May 12, 2010

Raymond M. Reid was born in Peking, China to Raymond M. Reid, Sr. and Emily McClure Reid. He attended American and British schools in both China and the Philippines until 1939 when his father retired from Standard Vacuum Oil and returned to the United States. Prior to his father's retirement, Ray had crossed the Pacific three times by ship traveling between New York and China.
Ray attended the McBurney School in New York City and graduated from Yale University in 1951 where he was Captain of the Yale Swimming Team. He was a member of a number of NCAA and AAU championship and world-record freestyle relay teams and was elected to the All American Swimming Team in 1949, 1950, and 1951. He was president of the undergraduate Athletic Association, a member of the Fence Club, Scroll and Key Senior Society and Torch Honor Society. Ray founded the Yale Alumni Association of Sacramento in 1962 and served as its president.
He served in the U.S. Marine Corps as a Private First Class from 1946-1947 and as a First Lieutenant from 1951 to 1953. He was discharged from the Marine Corps Reserve as a Captain in 1961. Ray was a member of the Marine Corps League's Elk Grove Detachment.
In 1954 he married Joan Gibson in The Little Church around the Corner in New York City.
Ray began a career in business with positions in sales, purchasing and administration for several companies in New York and New England.
In 1960 Ray and Joan moved to Sacramento where Ray worked for KCRA-TV as a member of the national sales development section. Beginning in 1967, as an appointee of Governor Ronald Reagan, Ray served as Executive Secretary of the Educational Television Advisory Committee, Chief of the Division of Consumer Services, Executive Secretary of the California Board of Medical Examiners, and as a Special Assistant to the Governor. From 1977 to 1987 Ray was a loan officer for Home Savings.
After his retirement, Ray and Joan developed and operated Piccadilly Farms, a dog boarding kennel, on their property in Elk Grove, until 2003.
Ray was an avid tennis player. In addition, he loved to spend time at his home on The Sea Ranch with family and friends. With his sense of humor and quick wit, he elicited laughter wherever he went. He enjoyed meeting new people and considered everyone a friend. His family jokingly referred to him as Mr. Nice.
Ray is survived by his wife, Joan, and his daughters: Curran McClure Reid, Madrid, Spain; Gibson Macfarlane Reid (Scott Essex, DVM) Gazelle, CA; Calder McColley Reid (William Holmes), Independence, CA; Halsey McSherry Reid, Sacramento; and his grandchildren: Zachary Boysen, McKenna Stewart Bruyette, and Taylor Macfarlane Bruyette.
Friends are invited to celebrate Ray's life at Silva's Sheldon Inn, 9000 Grantline Road, Elk Grove, on Saturday, May 22, from 11 to 2 PM. At Ray's request, In lieu of flowers, remembrances in his name may be made to the Class of 1951 Memorial Scholarship, Yale University Office of Development, Box 2038, New Haven, CT 06521.