Raymond Walter Grundhofer

1932 - 2016

RAYMOND WALTER GRUNDHOFER Raymond Grundhofer passed away in the early morning hours of Monday, October 10, 2016 surrounded by three generations of family. He was preceded into God's care by his wife Joanne. He is survived by his two children, David Scott and Nanci Rae and his numerous grand children and great- grandchildren. He was born on August 31, 1932 to Elmer and Elizabeth Deloris Grundhofer in St. Paul, Minnesota. He was drafted into the Army right out of trade school for the Korean War effort, and he served at White Sands, New Mexico working on the Nike missile program. While at White Sands he became good friends with Dale Kirtley. Dale convinced Ray to accompany him back home to Northern California where he met Dale's younger sister, Joanne. Ray and Joanne fell in love at first at sight. After Ray's honorable discharge from the Army in 1955 the two were married in a beautiful ceremony in Joanne's parent's garden in Grizzly Bluff near Ferndale, California. Ray and Joanne chose to live in Humboldt County and after a few years of miscellaneous jobs, such as drilling wells, driving logging trucks and general mechanics work, Ray landed a job with PG&E, working at the old power plant at the foot of Washington Street shoveling sawdust. In the early sixties PG&E was looking for volunteers to be trained to operate the new commercial nuclear power plant they were constructing, and Ray immediately volunteered and was trained as an operator. One of his career highlights was connecting the Humboldt Bay power plant to the electric power grid as the first US nuclear power in commercial operation. Over the years he advanced to the supervisor of operations, during which time the plant was shut down for commercial operations and decommissioning procedures were started. Ray enjoyed a highly active retirement during which he pursued his passions for auto racing, 49er and Stanford football, travel throughout the US, dancing, and (as he called it) geriatric water skiing. He also spent much time helping out friends and family with his mechanical and construction skills. He would sometimes remark that he worked harder during his retirement than he ever did with PG&E. A memorial service will be held at Goble's Funeral Home in Fortuna, 12th and L Streets on Friday October 28th at 11 AM, with a gathering immediately afterwards at the Fortuna Grange Hall on Rohnerville Road at Mill St. Please sign the guestbook at www.times-standard.com