Tribute

On Tuesday, December 25, 2012, Mr. Ray Edmonds of Okanagan Falls passed away at Sunnybank Centre in Oliver at the age of 92 years. A memorial service will be held at 1:00 P.M. Wednesday, January 9, 2013 at the Okanagan Falls Legion Hall. Reception will follow in the Legion Hall.

Ray was born on September 20, 1920 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and joined the DCOR Regiment in 1940 at the age of twenty.  He was shipped out of Halifax with the 12^th Manitoba Dragoons, landing in Scotland.  He was in London when some of the heavy bombings occurred. 

Two years later, stationed at St. Vito, Italy, on the Adriatic Coast, Ray became a dispatch rider.  

He left Italy by boat, after two years, and went on to France and then Belgium and then to Holland.  In 1945 he was sent back to England, and then with the 395 DRAFT on the ship Normandy, sailed back to Canada.  He was put on a hospital train out of Halifax and sent to Shaughnessy Hospital, in Vancouver.

Ray’s Service Medals and ribbons are shown on his Legion Coat.  He wore them very proudly.  He received the 1939-1945 Star, the Italy Star, the France & German Star, the 1939-45 Defense Medal, the 1939-45 Canadian Service Volunteer Medal, the 1939-45 War Medal and the Holland Liberation Medal.

Ray has served the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 227 as President and Past President, Service Officer and Past Service Officer, received a fifty year bar and ribbon and was awarded a Life Membership.

When Ray was discharged from the army, he bought a 1934 Chev Cabaret and headed for Penticton.  While dining at the Commadore Café he met his future wife, Lily Bell.  They have lived most of their married life in Okanagan Falls, some in Summerland and some in Penticton.  They made their 65^th anniversary last May.

They have two daughters; Marlene (Brian) Tulak from Nanaimo and Jeannie (Dennis) Tomlin from Oliver.  They have four grandchildren, Allen (Kim) Tulak, Teresa (Robin) Jacobson, Denean Tomlin  & Jason (Rhonda) Tomlin and eight great grandchildren and one great, great grandchild.

Ray had many occupations during his married life.  He drove the mail truck from Summerland to Penticton in the late forties. Through the years he was a carpenter, a school bus driver, a millwright, owned Badger Excavating and finally ended his last “working years” for Canadian Canners in Penticton.

Lily and Ray lived at the house on the hill going out of OK Falls while the girls grew up.  Later they moved to Penticton, and then came back to “the Falls”.

They joined the “Over Forty Club”, belonged to the Senior Centre, and did Citizens on Patrol in their seventies.  The coffee pot was always on and Lily always had a cake or cookies made.

Ray loved music and played in the seniors’ band until his health deteriorated.  He also loved collecting stamps; he had a room devoted to many albums and had spent over fifty years on his collection.

Ray had several strokes in his late eighties and ended up his last two and a half years at Sunnybank; Lily is still in their home on Camlyn Court.

Condolences and tributes may be directed to the family by visiting www.nunes-pottinger.com

Arrangements entrusted to Nunes-Pottinger Funeral Service & Crematorium, Oliver & Osoyoos.