"Dave, Joanne and Hannah....our thoughts and prayers are with you. Enjoy the memories as they will last forever. Jeanne and Phil Larson"
In loving memory of
Raymond Harold Whittaker
April 11, 1926 - September 27, 2013
Raymond Whittaker
COLUMBUS JUNCTION, Iowa - Raymond Whittaker, 87, of Columbus Junction, died Friday, September 27, 2013, at Colonial Manor in Columbus Junction.
Funeral Service will be held at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, October 1, 2013, at the Stacy-Lewis Home for Funeral and Cremation Services in Columbus Junction. Marsha Gerot will officiate the funeral service. Burial will be in Greenwood Cemetery. Following the interment, a time of food and fellowship will be held at the Allen Wright Hanft American Legion Post 100 in Columbus Junction.
Visitation will be from 5 until 8 p.m. on Monday, September 30, 2013, at the funeral home.
Memorials may be made to the All Veterans Memorial in Grandview in memory of Raymond.
He was born Harold Leroy Windus on April 11, 1926, to "Cookie" Holiday and Harold Windus in Muscatine. He was adopted two months later by Raymond and Genevieve Whittaker (Burts) and named Raymond Harold Whittaker. He attended Muscatine schools.
One of the highlights of his life was his service in the Navy during World War II. He served as the leader of a gun crew on the air craft carrier USS Hancock, where he received several medals including the Purple Heart.
Ray married Thelma Buckley in 1960 in Aledo, Illinois.
After leaving the Navy, he became a meat cutter and meat manager in several grocery stores including McCormick's, Whitman's, Foster's Sun Mart stores in Muscatine and Cedar Rapids, and Economart in Columbus Junction.
He was a life member of the VFW and American Legion. He served in several local and district offices in organizations as well as the 40 & 8. He spent hundreds of hours as a volunteer at the V.A. Hospital in Iowa City.
Ray will be deeply missed by his wife, Thelma Whittaker of Columbus Junction; children, Larry Raymond Whittaker and wife, Linda, of Lakeland, Florida, Ricky DeWayne Whittaker and wife, Rose, of Muscatine, David Gary Whittaker and wife, Joanne, of West Des Moines, and Timothy Ray Whittaker and wife, Carol, of Letts; 17 grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.
Ray was preceded in death by his first wife, Delores McDaniel; one sister, Frances Heskett; his parents; and three children, Neal Arthur, Jeffery Dean and Sally Ann.