Ray Willard
Marital Status: Married; Three Children; Caroline (16), Catherine (13), and Jack (10)
Occupation: Landscape Architect
Residence: Olympia, Washington
Last Updated: 01.13.09
Bio: I started college the fall of 1979 with a music scholarship at SPU and after two years transferred to the UW, switched my major to architecture, and ended up graduating in 1985 with a degree in landscape architecture. My wife Leanne and I had met the summer of 1978 and followed each other around throughout college. We were married the summer of 1984 and spent our first six years in a great little apartment on Queen Anne Hill. I took a job with the Department of Transportation right out of college and worked on the design and construction of the roadside plantings for I-90 between Seattle and Bellevue; I was responsible for design and coordinating construction of the irrigation systems throughout the corridor. In 1990 we bought our first house in Ballard and shortly after that I took a job in Olympia working on the statewide roadside maintenance program. In 1992 we had our first child, Caroline. I commuted between Ballard and Olympia for four years before we bought a house in Olympia’s South Capitol Neighborhood, just four blocks from my office. Catherine, our second child, came along in 1996. We thought two kids was just the right size for our family so I went in for a little operation… some might remember this story from the 20 year reunion, because Jack was born the summer of 1998. The last ten years have gone by very fast with all the kid-related activities and house remodeling projects. I do still play my sax whenever I get the chance, mainly with a group we call the Olympia Sacred Jazz Ensemble. I haven’t stayed in touch with anyone from our class, so I’m really looking forward to getting together this summer.
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Tags: Class of 1979, Ray Willard, Tyee High School
February 1st, 2009 at 2:51 pm
Ray, Beautiful family and thank god for failed operations. Had mine worked, we wouldn’t have Justin, making the loss of Brandon even worse!
May 5th, 2009 at 7:50 pm
I had such a crush on Ray when we were in 6th grade!! I waited for him every day in the summer to ride his bike down my street. I went to his little league games when I could find out when they were..I look back on it now and I may have been considered a stalker!!
Sorry Ray….