Raymond A. McLaughlin
Raymond A. McLaughlin, age 86, of Kearney, passed away Sunday, July 24, 2022, at Kearney Regional Medical Center in Kearney. Memorial Services will be held 10:30 a.m. today, Thursday, July 28, at First United Methodist Church in Kearney with Pastor Jeff Wulf officiating. Inurnment will follow at Riverside Cemetery in Gibbon with Military Honors provided by the Gibbon American Legion in conjunction with the Offutt Air Force Base Funeral Honors Team.
Memorials are suggested to Faith United Methodist Church or donor’s choice. Condolences may be shared online at www.osrfh.com. Services are entrusted to O’Brien Straatmann Redinger Funeral and Cremation Services.
Raymond was born May 17, 1936, in Portland, Maine, to Willis and Helen Doris (King) McLaughlin. Ray attended school in Portland, Maine, graduating in 1954. He was a member of the Portland National Guard in 1954 and entered into the United States Air Force on January 20, 1955, serving in Japan, Guam, Georgia, Michigan, Mississippi and the Philippines, retiring at Offutt Air Force Base in Bellevue in 1975.
Ray married Mary Jane Beard on December 21, 1957. To this union Scott, Kim, Tonja, and Tracy were born. Upon retiring from the USAF, Ray worked at Space Lanes in Bellevue and AMF Bowling Company. He traveled the area installing and repairing bowling centers. That brought him to the Big Apple Bowling Center in 1978. When he began there, it was only a 24-lane bowling center. Ray and his staff enhanced the facility into 36 lanes, a sports bar, miniature golf, sand volleyball, and go karts.
In 1982, Ray married Donna and united her two girls, Dawn and Courtney to make a blended family. Upon retiring from the Big Apple in 2000, Ray continued working their ceramic shop, Creative Art Forms, in Gibbon which he and Donna opened in 1992. Ceramics had been a lifelong love of Ray beginning in Michigan and the Philippines.
Ray found the Lord on March 2, 2014, being Baptized and joined Faith Methodist Church in Kearney.
Ray is survived by his loving wife, Donna, of Kearney; son, Scott (Tracie) McLaughlin, of Kearney; daughters, Kim (Tim) Almgren, of Omaha, Tonja (Gabriel) Parra, of Pembroke Pines, Florida, Tracy (Matt) Troncone, of Haddonfield, New Jersey, Dawn Beister, of Des Moines, Iowa; son-in-law, Mike Hopkins, of Kearney; grandchildren, Lindsay McLaughlin, Adam (Darryn) McLaughlin, Lauren (Joel) Thurman, Rose Almgren, Samantha (Desi) Barreto, Macie Troncone, Sydney Troncone, Hunter Hopkins, and Liz Hopkins; and Ray’s newest light of his life, great-grandchildren, Hannah Thurman, James McLaughlin, Eli Barreto, and the new McLaughlin due in October.
Ray was preceded in death by his parents; sisters, Francis Reed and Ruth Gregory; brothers, Donald and Danny McLaughlin; and step-daughter, Courtney Hopkins.