March 23, 1926 – December 21, 2025
Raymond Richard (Ray) Gardner, long-time resident of Reading, Massachusetts, died on Sunday, Dec 21, 2025, at the age of 99 3/4 years.
Ray was the eighth of ten children born on a farm in rural East Charleston, VT to the late William Henry and Olive Lucy (French) Gardner. He graduated from Brighton High School (1944) during World War II and was immediately inducted into the US Army. For his service in the Pacific, he was awarded the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign, Good Conduct, and Victory Medals.
After the war, Ray worked for the Railway Post Office (RPO) out of White River Junction, Vermont, before moving in with his sister, Lois, in Malden, MA, for an RPO position in Boston. Ray’s sister invited him to join a beach party with her co-workers. There, Ray met Margaret I. Fraser, who became his wife of 63 years, and predeceased him in 2013. When the RPO service closed, Ray transitioned to work as a clerk in several local post offices before retiring in 1988.
Raymond is the loving father of Stephen Gardner of Reading, Gloria Parsons of North Reading, Raylene Ludgate and her husband Michael, of Brooktondale, NY, Sharon Gardner of Salem, MA, Ellen Gardner of Ygnacio, CO, and Cheryl O’Toole and her husband Peter, of Concord, CA. He also leaves his youngest sister, Beulah Griffes, his brother-in-law, Will Fraser, and many nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by son-in-law Bob Parsons, daughter-in-law Brenda Gardner, and eight of his nine siblings. He will be lovingly remembered by his six children, 17 grandchildren, and 14 great-grandchildren.
Children warmed up to Ray quickly, and he was good at making kids smile. He got a kick out of the funny things they would come up with, such as a granddaughter innocently asking for brown rice on her ice cream cone (aka jimmies). He would share these stories with others – the joy he felt was infectious. He was most comfortable around family, prioritizing time for them. Vacations were spent with extended family in Vermont. In the last few years, he would frequently ask, “When are we going to Vermont?”.
Ray and Margaret were members of the First Baptist Church of Reading. They were square dancers, traveling all around Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Ray was a collector of antiques. He was especially fond of 78 rpm records and entertained others by playing them on an old hand cranked Victrola phonograph. He collected coins, railroad spikes, and antique bottles which he personally dug out of the ground. Ray’s stamp collection started in his teens, when he received a small collection as payment for work. He began saving the family letters for the stamps on them. Those letters became a treasure when, on retiring from the post office, Ray became a genealogist; he found the information in the letters valuable. His research included a lot of time in the back rooms of small town halls, where he’d be given boxes of records to look through. He traveled around New England and Canada to visit cemeteries and do research, as at the time, no documents were online. He discovered his ancestors through colonial times and beyond. He shared much of this information through his nephew Paul’s family newsletter.
Ray was also an avid chess player. Many youngsters in the family took him on and he showed them no mercy! He was a member of the N.O.S.T. chess club where he played multiple games at once through the mail, while also keeping a game going with his brother Clayton, who lived across the country. Ray quickly adopted the computer in the eighties and continued in the club, using email to make chess moves. Occasionally, he would play a game against the computer. Ray attended chess conventions all over the US. Once, he got an award for winning against a master (who played many games at once). Later, Ray enjoyed the camaraderie playing chess at senior centers in Reading, Winchester and Woburn, MA.
In 2021, Ray moved to Brooktondale, NY, to live with his daughter, Raylene, and her husband, Michael, on their beautiful forty-acre property, complete with a bubbling stream, and surrounded by forest. It must have been a little like being back on his childhood farm for him. Once, while Ray was seated quietly in a lawn chair, a deer came very close to him. Raylene saw this from a distance and mentioned it to him later. His response was “you saw that too!?”; he was happy to have confirmation!
Ray’s wisdom, warmth, and sense of humor will be greatly missed
A Funeral Service celebrating his life will be held on Saturday January 3, 2026, at 11:00AM at the First Baptist Church 45 Woburn St. in Reading. Visiting hours will be held on Friday from 4-7PM at the Douglass, Edgerley and Bessom Funeral Home 25 Sanborn St. (corner of Woburn St.), Reading. Burial will be in Charles Lawn Cemetery, Reading.
In lieu of flowers contributions may be made in Raymonds memory to the First Baptist Church 45 Woburn St. Reading, MA 01867.www.fbcreading.org or Northwoods Stewardship Center 154 Leadership Drive, East Charleston, VT 058333
https://www.northwoodscenter.org
For directions and online guest book visit www.johnbdouglassfuneralhome.com
