Father James H. Ray, MM

Born: January 22, 1907
Ordained: June 11, 1933
Died: December 20, 1978

Father James Henry Ray died last night in Danbury Hospital.

Fither Ray was born in Denver, Colorado on the 22 of January 1907, son of Etienne Eugene Ray and Clara L. Ludwick. The family moved to New York and he attended Corpus Christi school, All Hallows High School and Holy Cross College. He entered Maryknoll on September 5, 1929 and was ordained on June 11, 1933 and assigned to Korea a month later.

After laboring for eight years in Peng Yang, Father Jimmy was granted sick leave and arrived in the United States before the outbreak of hostilities. After a short time of rest and medical care he was assigned to Promotion in Chicago, but on October 26, 1942 was sent to the newly opened mission in Ecuador and in 1945 was made Rector of the Society House in Arequipa, Peru where he combined the offices of Local Superior, Consultor to the Society Superior, Econome and for the last two years, Director of the Language School. Returning on furlough to the U. S. in 1952, he was reassigned to Korea, where he labored until 1970 when health demanded a return and he was assigned to the United States Region.

Father Ray has lived for the last seven years at the home of his sister, Marie, helping out in various parishes when his health permitted.

The wake was held in the Maryknoll Chapel Friday night at 7:35 p.m. and the Funeral Mass celebrated Saturday morning at 11:00 a. m. Father William O’Leary was Principal Celebrant and Father James Sinnott preached the homily.