Posted: Thursday, June 25, 2009 12:00 am
Feb. 28, 1938 - June 4, 2009
Raymond Workman, 71, of Milwaukie died June 4. Before he died he wrote this:
It was the end of July in 2007 when I was told I had a large inoperable cancerous tumor in my omentum. Since then my wife and I have been to the Oregon Shakespearean Festival in September, having lunch and a great visit with my high school choir director. November found us caught in an early snowstorm in La Conner, Wash., while Christmas shopping. I spent my 70th birthday on a zip line above a forest canopy in Costa Rica. April found us flying to California in a private plane piloted by one old high school friend to see another old high school friend get married. The highlight of May was our driving trip through Ireland and singing in the oldest pub in Ireland with the locals. They appreciated my "Molly Malone." We finished the year on a leisurely cruise from Anchorage, Alaska, to Vancouver, B.C.
In October 2008 I was told I had only a few weeks to live. I called a few friends and that few weeks turned into 71/2 months during which I have had the time of my life visiting with friends and family.
I was born in Lebanon to Pat and Virginia Workman. My sister Doris was born three years later. In 1956, I married my high school sweetheart, Peggy, who in the following few years gave me my daughter, Lori, and son David. She helped me through four years at Oregon State College and later a master's degree and teaching certificate from Oregon College of Education, now Western Oregon University.
By the '70s, I had restarted my life in the Portland area with Mary and her son, Garrett Trask. Nineteen seventy-seven brought my son Casey into my life. These brothers enjoyed growing up on our five acres in West Linn called Woodbine, where our family life was grounded by horses. Highlights of this period of my life were coaching the boys in various sports, riding in the Rose Parade with the Clackamas County Sheriff's Posse and winning poetry contests.
By the end of 1990, I had left Woodbine and had moved to Milwaukie with Shirley, and Casey soon moved in with us. With Shirley came the pleasure of her two sons, Paul and Chris Christensen, and the joy of her two brothers, Ken and Bob Hoffman and their families. The ensuing years developed into a rich and loving partnership. I look back in pride on the things we built, including a fundraising business, an adult foster care home for her family, and our beach home in Lincoln City. I remember with joy the times we shared with our friends like our annual Christmas caroling party and my summer mini-class reunion. And we did a great deal of travel worldwide. The most satisfying trip was to be asked by Lynn Sjolund, my high school choir director, to sing with the Rogue Valley Chorale on a trip through Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.
Although I have won numerous awards for sales both in securities and as a school fundraiser, my most satisfying career was as an English teacher, drama coach and football coach, teaching at Memorial Junior High in Albany and Fowler Junior High in Tigard.
I have had a full life and I go in peace. A celebration of my life will be at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Milwaukie Elks. Remembrances can be made to Clackamas County SMART program or Kaiser Permanente Hospice.