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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Obituary: Zawadski, Raymond Joseph

ZAWADSKI, Raymond Joseph Raymond Joseph Zawadski, 84, died peacefully on Thursday, June 6, at his home in Spokane.

Born by the light of a kerosene lantern on his family’s rural Wisconsin farm, near Withee, on October 25, 1928, Ray spent his boyhood there.

In 1943, his family moved to Chicago where Ray attended Roosevelt High School, graduating in 1947.

Ray then enlisted in the U.S. Navy and saw a tour of duty in the Korean War aboard the ship Newport News.

He served four years, studying electronics.

When his military service ended, Ray attended Wright Junior College, graduated, and then attended the Illinois Institute of Technology where he received a graduate degree in Electrical Engineering.

Ray met and married Georgia Bartholomew and the couple moved to Poulsbo, Washington, where Ray worked applying his electrical engineering skills in the shipyards.

Ray and Georgia moved to Spokane in 1965 and he took a job with the Idaho Bureau of Mines where he maintained the agency’s electronic equipment for many years.

Georgia and Ray loved to square dance and were very active in local dance clubs.

After Georgia’s death in 1995, Ray became a longtime volunteer for The Lands Council, a local non-profit conservation organization, and continued to square dance until health issues no longer allowed.

Ray was preceded in death by his wife, Georgia, and is survived by two sisters, Celia (Robert) Small of Mineola, Texas, and Frances Wall of Oak Lawn, Illinois, and nieces and nephews.

A private family inurnment is planned at Maryhill Cemetery in Niles, Illinois.

Ray’s family would like to thank his neighbors, friends, caregivers who spent the last several months taking care of him, sharing stories, their time and love with him.

Memorial contributions can be made to Hospice of Spokane, PO Box 2215, Spokane, WA 99210 or The Lands Council, 25 W Main Ave, Suite 222, Spokane WA, 99201.