Raymond Welbourn

Ray Welbourn died peacefully on March 18. He was 100. 

Ray grew up in Indiana and Ohio. He was an Eagle Scout, and in high school he delivered groceries by bicycle from the corner market to nearby homes. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1941. Because his eyesight prevented enlistment, during World War II he worked for the civil service in federal procurement agencies in Ohio and Michigan, supplying the war effort.

While living in Detroit, Ray met Barbara Poling, and they fell in love and married. Under the influence of great wartime movies like “Holiday Inn,” they soon moved to New Hampshire to open an inn of their own. They started a family in a big old house far from neighbors, with a hillside apple orchard and a view over a lake to distant mountains. Ray’s job for International Paper transferred the family to Pennsylvania in 1962. They chose Swarthmore for its wonderful schools. For the last 15 years of his career, Ray was the head of purchasing and special services at what is now the Fox Chase Cancer Center. He lived in Swarthmore until moving into White Horse Village in Media in 1995.

Ray loved travel, whether hiking in the White Mountains or doing a dig at Gibraltar. He enjoyed the music of his era and often played along with the radio on an ocarina or the small xylophone he kept under his chair. He could recite long passages of poems from A. A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh books. He followed the news and had strong opinions about it, which he often addressed directly to the television. He saved newspaper clippings he thought would interest his children, occasionally sending them in big manila envelopes. He loved games and competition, from cribbage to croquet, and he played to win.

Ray watched the birds at his feeders constantly, and he always grew things. He took iris plants from Swarthmore to White Horse, where he shared them with other gardeners. He often arrived for a visit with a home-grown rose in hand.

Ray was predeceased by his wife, Barbara, a kindergarten teacher in Swarthmore. He is survived by his children and their spouses, David and Lynn (Bitzer) Welbourn, and Marty and John (Freeman); five grandchildren, and 3 1/2 great-grandchildren.

We encourage anyone who would like to honor him to do something generous for someone who needs help in this strange and challenging time in all our lives.