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Lonoke High School

Lonoke, Arkansas

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John Raymond Hartley Obituary

Graduation Year Class of 1970
Date of Passing Feb 18, 2010
About After high school, Ray joined the USAF and excelled in the Drum and Bugle Corps, as he had in LHS band. He was the Drum Major of the Corps while at Sheppard AFB. He trained as a jet mechanic while in the Air Force. Ray was part of the retrofit team for the original FEd Ex plane and worked in aviation until his death. Ray was married to Carla (Warner) on June 11, 1971. They have four children, Toby, Heather, Sam and Jessie and 9 grandchildren. In addition to being a brilliant mechanic, Ray was well known in the industry for his leadership and people skills and was often called upon to resolve conflict, and other issues normally handled by Human Resources. Ray's teaching and training skills within his company led to frequent public speaking opportunities with the FAA and he served as an FAA appointed Safety Aviation Counselor. He was often called to be an expert witness in corporate aviation litigation and was a frequent contributor in FAA and corporate aviation publications After his death he was honored by several aviation publications and national organizations. His employer named a portion of their facility in his honor. Ray was an incredible husband and father and grandfather (Danigh/Dan.) Ray and Carla lived in California but owned property in Oklahoma, where Ray died in his own bed. Romans 8:38-39 were the last words he spoke..
John Raymond Hartley