1930 – 2016

FARMINGTON — Raymond “Ray” E. Anderson, 86, of Vienna, passed away Friday morning, Sept. 30, at Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington. It had been a wonderful day spent with his wife buttoning up for winter and splitting wood. They capped a productive day with a great evening meal out on the town.

He was born Aug. 23, 1930, in Portsmouth, N.H., a son of Henry E. and Mary Louise (Dugdale) Anderson. He graduated from Eliot High School and served his country proudly as a member of the U.S. Navy. On May 17, 1958, he married the former Gay Moulton of Cape Neddick at the Congregational Church in Eliot.

While living in Wells he worked as a printer at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and also supported the area youth as a Little League baseball coach. Ray was an outdoorsman who enjoyed hunting, fishing and downhill skiing. His love of hunting began back in high school when he would hunt to and from school.

For many years he and his wife were on the National Ski Patrol providing aid to skiers on slopes such as The Big A, Burnt Meadow Mountain and Pleasant Mountain. His passion for skiing began when he used skins to climb Sugarloaf and Pleasant Mountain back when there were no lifts.

In the winter of 2016, he and his daughter, Julie, enjoyed downhill skiing at Titcomb Mountain and Mt. Abram, unknowingly taking his last runs, capping a ski career spanning 70-plus years. A favorite slope over the years for Ray was Saddleback Mountain in Rangeley, but he skied almost all of the Northeast ski areas, including the infamous Tuckerman’s Ravine.

He was a member of Mill Stream Grange #574 in Vienna for over 25 years and a member of the North Vienna United Methodist Church.

He is survived by his wife of 58 years, Gay, of Vienna; their children, Julie Anderson of Litchfield and Paul E. Anderson and his wife, Annette, of Falmouth; grandsons, Kenneth Smith of Old Orchard Beach and J. Trevor Lea-Smith and his wife, AnnHelen, and their son, Samuel Jared Lea-Smith, of Sandness, Norway; granddaughters, Jessica Millett and her husband, Robert, and their son, Robert Preston Millett, of Barre, Vt., and Michelle Morris of Litchfield; a beloved foster daughter, Amanda Carter of Boise, Idaho; a sister, Ellen Louise Anderson of Novato, Calif.; and many nieces and nephews.

He was predeceased by his daughter Sharon Anderson on Nov. 29, 2010; and his brother, Richard Anderson.

Condolences and tributes may be shared on his memorial wall at www.wilesrc.com.