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UXBRIDGE, Mass. - Raymond X. Welch, 77, died September 16, 2012 after a brief illness. His beloved wife Leslie J. (Thibeau) preceded him in death in 2009.
Raymond is survived by his children Raymond X. Welch, Jr. and his wife Kathleen Gaines; Timothy E. Welch and his wife Elizabeth Molloy; and Richard P. Welch and his wife Rebecca. He also leaves his grandchildren Samantha Zappia, and Brendan, Patrick, Katherine, Sydney and Timothy Welch; one great-grandchild Patrick Zappia, born on the day of his death; siblings Patrick Welch, Ellen Beerits and her husband Chris, Mary Goolsby and her husband David, and John Welch and his wife Julie; and several nieces and nephews.
Raymond was born May 23, 1935 in Bangor, Maine, son of the late Florence (McCann) and Raymond Welch. He attended John Bapst High School where he was a standout baseball
player. For many years Ray was an auto mechanic and subsequently an auto manufacturer service executive. He was also an accomplished carpenter, craftsman, and self-taught engineer who built two homebuilt airplanes, one of which was a 2/3 scale replica of a P-51 Mustang.
Those who knew him will recall he was also a World War II history buff and could
identify any aircraft from that era by just the silhouette or sound. As a young man, he obtained his pilot's license before his driver's license, and was a commercial flight instructor for Air Force pilots at Dow Air Force Base in Bangor. Ray spent countless hours chasing the perfection of his homebuilts in his immaculately maintained and organized workshops. Though he'd have dismissed the notion with some curmudgeonly comment,
Ray had the soul of an artist.
Calling hours for Raymond will be Friday, September 21 from 5 to 8 p.m. at Roney Funeral Home, 152 Worcester St., N. Grafton. A Funeral Mass will be celebrated Saturday, Sept. 22 at 1 p.m. at St. Mary's Church in North Grafton. He will then be laid to rest with his wife Leslie at Pine Grove Cemetery in North Grafton.
In lieu of flowers his family requests memorial donations to Wounded Warriors (https://support.woundedwarriorproject.org/
default.aspx).
Directions and an online condolence book to share memories of Raymond are available at:
www.RoneyFuneralHome.com.
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