Charles Ray Cain
(1928-1999)
 
 

Charles Ray Cain was born Dec. 10, 1928 in Gary, Indiana (birth
father Charles William Ward Cochran) . He was lovingly nurtured by his
mother, Edythe Laura Cain Powell and Kyle Hayes Cain and considered
Kyle his father. He grew up on a farm near Hobart, Indiana. Kyle and
Edythe raised 7 children; 5 of Kyle's and 2 of Edythe's. Kyle died in
1976. Siblings Kyle Robert, Gertrude Louise, Phyllis Elaine, and Philip
Wayne have preceded Ray in death. Ruth Joy and Charles Louis survive,
as well as Edythe, his mother,and Charles Powell, his step-father.
Ray graduated from Indiana Academy in Cicero, Indiana in 1945.

The family moved to Randle,WA in 1946.
Ray married Jenna Blankinship October 10, 1950.

To this union were born Keith Evan, Rae Lee, Laura Lynn,

James Mark, Jon Brian, and Kyle Ray.
Ray served in the U. S. Army from January 1951 to January 1953 during the

Korean Conflict, and attained the rank of Corporal.
Education was very important to Ray. He attended classes in 5 colleges
and universities over a period of 22 years until he received his
undergraduate degree.
Ray and Jenna lived in Port Angeles, WA where Ray was teaching when they
were first married. After Ray was drafted they lived in Centralia, WA
for a short time while he was stationed at Fort Lewis. Then he was
transferred to Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, TX. Jenna followed him
to TX where Keith and Rae Lee were born. After he was discharged they
moved to Seattle, WA where Ray worked at Boeing Aircraft Co. for several
years. Laura and Mark were born in Seattle. In 1957 they moved to a 20
acre farm at Onalaska, WA. Brian and Kyle were born in Chehalis, WA.
Ray worked at Goodyear Tread Rubber Plant in Chehalis for a year or so,
then taught 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades at Lewis Co. Junior Academy near
Chehalis for 6 years. The family moved into Chehalis in 1963. In 1966
they moved to College Place, WA where Ray finished his undergraduate
degree at Walla Walla College, graduating in the summer of 1967. He
then taught in the Clara Rogers Elementary School in College Place for a
year. In 1968 the family made another move to Auburn, WA, and Ray
again worked at Boeing. About 1970 he started working for Science
Management Corporation as a management consultant. Porter Memorial
Hospital in Denver, CO called in 1975, needing his services as a
management engineer, and Ray, Jenna, Mark, Brian, and Kyle moved to
Denver. The girls were married by this time. Keith followed to CO
after a year or so.
In 1980, while living in Denver, Ray finished his Masters Degree in
Health Care Administration. He was Director of Management Engineering

for Adventist Health Systems, Middle and Eastern America.
After 6 years in CO there was another change in employment. Back to
Science Management Corporation, where he again worked as a management
consultant. The family moved to Portland, OR in 1981.
In about 1983 Ray started his own management consulting business. In
1989 a health crisis forced him to retire.
In 1991 a final move was made back to Onalaska, WA, where Ray developed
a 5 acre plot into a home site.
He planted many trees and shrubs, and loved gardening.
A lifelong interest of Ray's was birdwatching. He had an extensive
library about birds. He loved all of nature and wildlife. He passed
on this legacy to his children.
Ray always said he couldn't decide what he wanted to do when he grew up.
This partially accounted for the many moves. He had many interests, and
knew a lot about quite a few things, and something about many other
things. When the children were growing up and would ask questions,
Jenna would say "Go ask your Dad, he knows everything".
God was first in Ray's life, then family. He made friends easily, and
cared deeply for those friends.
He served as a Deacon or an Elder in most of the churches his membership
was in. His lifelong interest in education served him well as a school
board chairman. He also served as a substitute teacher in the Morton
Adventist School, Lewis Co. Adventist School, and the Olympia Adventist
School in the years since his retirement.
Ray passed away in Olympia, WA on January 22, 1999 .
 
 

Some thoughts from family and friends:



 

A Real Man
by Edgar Guest

Men are of two kinds, and he
was of the kind I'd like to be.
.
Some preach their virtues, and a few
express their lives by what they do.
.
That sort was he. No flowery phrase
or glibly spoken words of praise
.
won friends for him. He wasn't cheap
or shallow, but his course ran deep.
.
And it was pure. You know the kind.
Not many in a life you find
.
whose deeds outrun their words so far
that more than what they seem they are.
.
There are two kinds of lies as well:
The kind you live, the ones you tell.
.
Back through his years from age to youth
he never acted one untruth.
.
Out in the open light he fought
and didn't care what others thought
.
nor what they said about his fight
If he believed that he was right.
.
.
The only deeds he ever hid
were acts of kindness that he did.
.
What speech he had was plain and blunt.
His was an unattractive front.
.
Yet children loved him; babe and boy
played with the strength he could employ,
.
without one fear, and they are fleet
to sense injustice and deceit.
.
No back door gossip linked his name
with any shady tale of shame.
.
.
He did not have to compromise
with evil-doers, shrewd and wise,
.
and let them ply their vicious trade
because of some past escapade.
.
Men are of two kinds, and he
was of the kind I'd like to be.
.
.
No door at which he ever knocked
against his manly form was locked.
.
If ever man on earth was free
and independent, it was he.
.
No broken pledge lost him respect,
he met all men with head erect,
.
and when he passed, I think there went
a soul to yonder firmament
.
so white, so splendid and so fine
it came almost to God's design.
.


    I love you and miss you, Dad.
 

Kyle

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