Raymond Joseph Bukosky

STOW - Raymond Joseph Bukosky passed into the warm embrace of Our Lord on May 26, 2023. Ray will always be a “Vernal Equinox Baby,” born March 20, 1937, in the tiny coal mining town of Beaverdale, PA. Shout out to Ray’s parents, Alice and Joseph, for giving Spring yet another reason to eternally bless us all.

An early humble life taught Ray and his five siblings, (Betty, Joseph, Jr., Marion, David, and Richard), the value of hard work and perseverance. Santa gave only Ray a 1,000-word puzzle one Christmas when he was young. He still recalled it as one of his best gifts ever. Today, many families would love to find a place like Beaverdale, PA. Please keep it a secret.

After a stellar three sport high school career, Ray proudly earned acceptance to the “Minor Ivy League” college of William and Mary, VA, on a four-year academic/athletic scholarship. An injury-plagued freshman and sophomore season led to a departure. Unfailing, Ray was invited and attended the Washington Senators Major League Baseball spring training camp in Cocoa, FL, as a pitcher. Ray was offered a minor league contract but opted to attend Clarion University State Teachers College in his home state of Pennsylvania, on a full football scholarship. His thinking was to keep his amateur status, so he could still play sports in college.

Ray shined for the Clarion Golden Eagles in his junior and senior seasons. Ray played both ways, every game, as an end on offense and defense. During this time, he became the teacher that he was, and met his first wife, and mother of his children, Joan Wayne Bukosky.

Ray always credits this time of adversity between William and Mary and Clarion to making the Bukosky Family even possible. Later in life, Ray, his son, Greg, and his older brother, Joe, plus his son, Jo-Jo, made golfing memories to last the ages at the annual Clarion Alpha Gamma golf outing through 2021. Long live Alpha Gamma Phi.

Around 1960, the Bukoskys settled in Ravenna, OH, where daughter, Melissa Lee, and son, Gregory Raymond, were born and raised. Shout out to Mrs. DeAngelis for the early help. Ray worked two jobs to meet the needs of the time. After teaching school at Streetsboro and Southeast, coaching wrestling or baseball, Ray would come home, kiss the family and head off to work nights at Allegheny Drop Forge, a steel stamping plant a few miles down the road. He would wake up with four hours of sleep and do it all over again. Never complaining once.

That, perhaps, was the ultimate beauty of the man. Ray never complained about what challenge was before him. His children absorbed this most human of faiths. “What’s before us, is what we’re supposed to do. And we only get to choose a part of what’s before us.” Ray lived it.

Mr. B. retired from the Stow-Munroe Falls City School District in 1996, after 32 years of service. Kimpton Middle School students always left his classroom with a better grasp of grammar, public speaking skills, and confidence. Ray was a clinician of grammar to the end. You don’t know what the antecedent of this sentence is, but Ray did. If there even is one!

Grandchildren and golf were Ray’s later life passion. One had to compete hard with his peers at Windmill Lakes Golf Course in Ravenna in the 1980s. Every given night there were a bunch of great golfers. Ray grinded out some super low scores in his Ravenna Elks League at Windmill Lakes Golf Course and loved playing with Bob Willis, Carl Reedy, Glenn Rutan, and the Wymers, especially.

Ray passed on the love of golf to his entire family. It was the glue that bonded us.

Donations can be made to Ray’s favorite foundation for the disabled, Hattie Larlham Center , 9772 Diagonal Road, Mantua, Ohio 44255. Ray began his education career helping disabled children and never lost that passion. Kind donations can be made to Hattie Larlham Center .

Ray is survived by his wife, Karen; grandchildren, Kerry and Aaron; son, Gregory (Heather), and daughter, Melissa (Kash); many nieces and nephews, as well as his first wife, Joan.