Raymond L. Schreiner

1921 - 2020

SCHREINER, Raymond L., of Chesterfield, Virginia, born in Washington, D.C. on November 7, 1921, and died on September 3, 2020, at Regional Memorial Hospital in Mechanicsville, Virginia. He died peacefully with his daughter, Alice, at his side. Raymond attended Maryland University in the late 30s. He began his radio career at WPID in Petersburg, Virginia, in 1937. During World War II, he served as a Staff Sergeant with Armed Forces Radio at Fort Lee, Petersburg, Attu Island, in the Bering Sea near Alaska and in Panama. Following World War II, Ray worked at stations in North Carolina and West Virginia before going to WRNL in Richmond in 1950. At WRNL, he was first an announcer and then became Program Director. In March 1958, Ray was selected "Disc Jockey of the Month" by the magazine People Today. In 1962 he moved to Williamsburg, Virginia, to manage radio station WBCI. In 1964 he was selected as "The Best One Man News Department in Virginia" by the United Press. Ray served as News Director for WXEX (now WRIC) Channel 8 in Petersburg and Richmond from 1964 to 1965. This is probably how most people know him. He became Director of Information for the Virginia Department of Agriculture in 1965. During his 22 years with the department, he produced a daily radio show aired by various radio stations across the state and for 10 years hosted the department's television program Virginia Almanac on WWBT. He received the Virginia Agribusiness Award in 1990. Ray's interest in theater led to playing more than 100 different roles for community theaters in Danville, Williamsburg and the Richmond area. One of his most famous roles was that of Santa Claus in the annual Swift Creek Mill Playhouse Christmas production. Hundreds, if not thousands, of Virginia children sat in his lap during these 20 years. Although primarily appearing on the Swift Creek Mill Playhouse stage in more than 80 productions he also performed with Theatre IV, The Barksdale and Theatre Virginia as well as seven other Richmond area groups. In 1990, he shared the Richmond Times-Dispatch Phoebe Award for his role as The King in the Swift Creek Mill Playhouse production of Big River. After retirement from the Virginia Department of Agriculture in 1988, he became a volunteer with the Virginia Historical Society where he organized over 1,000 phase boxes for old and damaged books. He served as curator for the exhibit The 1950s in Virginia and Virginia Postcards 1900 - 1925. In 1996, he received the Society's Howsen Cole Award for outstanding service. Also a volunteer at the Valentine Museum, he was responsible for revamping and maintaining their extensive ephemeral files. His interest in Virginia and Richmond history was responsible for a column he authored beginning in 1997 titled Richmond First published in the Richmond magazine Fifty Plus for 14 years. He was preceded in death by his wife of 76 years, Alice M. Schriener; and his son, Raymond Schreiner III. He is survived by three daughters, Leslie Thiesen of Montana, Alice Beachy of Virginia, and Barbara Webster of Nebraska. He also has five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. There will be no memorial service.