- Date Of Birth: July 19, 1932
- Date Of Death: April 22, 2017
- State: Minnesota
Raymond Ernest Albers passed away on April 22, 2017 surrounded by his family. Ray was born on July 19, 1932. He married his JR High sweetheart, Marilyn Weaver in 1954; they were blessed with two children, Randal and Dayna Albers. He was an extremely hardworking husband and father, working an almost consistent 7 nights a week along with 6 consecutive summers of commercial fishing to support his family. Ray and Marilyn divorced in 1982.
Ray retired from Alcoa after 42 years of dedicated service as a machinist. He spent ten years learning to live the bachelor life accompanied by his cat, Rachel.
In 1992 he found his kindred soul, Roselyn (Anderson) Ahrens. They shared numerous common interests. Roselyn opened up a new world to him, introducing him to a large group of friends and family. Ray embraced Roselyn’s two daughters, Kirsten and Rachel. Now retired, Ray was able to blossom and develop close and valuable friendships. He was able to now show a relaxed, easy going side of himself. They married in 1994.
Ray could accomplish as much in 24 hours as most could in two days. He became a self- taught carpenter , building numerous pieces of furniture and re-finishing old pieces of furniture. Ray never looked at magazines for ideas, but was able to visualize concepts , put those visions to paper, and then into tangible objects. He always said his pieces were, “nothing much, just something simple”, and that he built them “by the seat of his pants”.
Ray and Roselyn made a plan to move to Lake Kabekona after her retirement in 2007. Roselyn owned property lakeside that had held a cabin that had burnt to the ground. They made a plan; Ray would build a cabin and they would live their final days there. Ray spent 6 summers building that cabin along with a double garage and two sheds. Those structures exude Ray’s personality and energy; strong, solid, and beautiful but not over-stated. He filled it with furniture that he also designed and built himself. If you knew Ray, you can walk into the cabin and feel Ray’s presence. There were times Ray asked for assistance building the cabin; his son Randy, nephews Ed, Chuck and Mark, and friend Gary gladly lent their strength and smarts to help Ray achieve his goal. The cabin was an accumulation of all of Ray’s talent and a point where maybe Ray let just a sliver of pride sneak in. It was the crown that sat at the top of all of his numerous “projects” throughout his life.
At the completion of the cabin Ray suffered a stroke that drastically changed his life. Amazingly, he went on to build numerous pieces of “nothing much” furniture. That “nothing much” furniture could sell for a sizeable price as Ray took pride in using unique beautiful wood rarely found in the commercial market and, despite his stroke, his sense of perfection prevailed.
Ray spent his final years sitting in a rocker looking out at the lake, sipping yet another cup of tea, admiring the various birds and the trees reaching to the sky, thinking of the upcoming summer of fishing, while his faithful dog Kona sat by his side waiting for a fairly divided piece of food (one for you, one for me philosophy. )
Ray was a man of integrity, strength and strong faith who loved his family and friends. He, in-turn, was loved by many.
Ray was preceded in death by his mother and father, Norma and Ernest Albers, siblings Cherrie, Loretta and Kenneth. He is survived by his siblings, Richard, Shirley, Marilyn, and Barbara, wife Roselyn, children Randy (Chris) and Dayna, step-daughters Kirsten (Shane) Simonds and Rachel Ahrens, grandchildren, Katie (Grayson) Path, Neika Watts, Stephen (Lacey), Solan Watts, and Megan, step-grandchildren Rebecca and Clara and great- grandchild Everett.
