Obituary for Ray S. Sultzbaugh
Ray Sultzbaugh was born in Los Angeles, CA to Lisle William Sultzbaugh and Olive Amelia Boren on May 30th 1943.
His interests and talents were many. While attending Whittier High School he was the wrestling champ all 4 years. He was of small stature but that never stopped him from flipping and pinning down a 250lb giant. A testimony to his character of strength.
Upon graduating high school Ray almost became a dental technician, at 16 he made a set of dentures fir a neighbor that said they were the best dentures he ever had. His mother was a dental assistant and he loved to play around with the dental equipment. Due to the impatience of wanting to make money he opted instead to became a metal spinner, which he loved. He started a company called Braskil Inc. located in Whittier, CA. One year, Braskil was selected to make the bases for the coveted Academy Awards. Shortly after that in the late 70’s Taiwan started making less expensive (lower quality) products many customers began buying up. Ray saw the writing on the wall and sold the business to his partner. Five years later, his partner not being able to fulfill the terms of the contract due to the company going under, left Ray short changed. It was time to move onto one of his next, of many adventures.
Ray received his CA Real Estate License in 1989. Shortly after that he was called to Northern CA where his mothers soul mate had just passed. He resettled in Oregonhouse, CA to help his mother with a 6 year long probate suit and stayed with her until her death in 2017. During his years in Oregonhouse he went back to school and received his Business AA Degree, Appraisers License, Brokers License, started a Property Management company and also got into the mortgage industry. He often joked he should have become a Real Estate attorney for all the legalities he seemed to mediate...
Through his years he always pursued his interests and dreams. One of these dreams was finding the remains and continuation of a silver outcrop he had seen cut off and covered up some 50 years ago. He loved the CA desert and mountains and dug up many treasures in Bodie. Ray loved American History and altho he never served he became a modern day digital warrior beginning in 2015 and had over 43k Twitter followers. This truly will be his legacy, as Hundreds and hundreds of prayers and condolences has reached his daughter. People most commonly said “ray is kind, helpful, knowledgeable and a peacemaker”
For those interested in his patriotic thoughts his handle was @rsultzba
Ray was married twice. His first marriage was to Cheryl R Sharp of Ontario, Ca the mother of his daughter Julie Ann. His second marriage was to Kathy Campbell of La Mirada, CA. Upon divorcing his 1st wife he entered into AA where his Sponsor Chuck Chamberlain author of “A New Pair of Glasses” led him to sobriety that lasted until his passing. Not once did he fall off the wagon, which is a testament to his strength. He met his 2nd wife at a AA meeting and he pursued her until she gave in. He remained active in the AA community and was involved with speaking at Tehachapi prison every month over 11 years. One prisoner asked him to be his sponsor and they were great friends right up to his passing.
He always talked about a light he was in, the 1st time he died. In 1968 after drinking one night, he drove a Ford Corvair into a parked Cadillac at 65 miles an hour. The gear shift knob went through his liver and the doctors did a experimental surgery that saved his life. During that surgery his heart stopped and he experienced something very rare. He saw himself on the operating table and then saw and felt himself going thru a warm and peaceful light. Not wanting to leave he found himself being told to go back that it wasn’t his time and he had more to do.
After suffering more than 10 months trying to get the So CA medical community to help figure out why he was in daily pain, and not getting any answers...his daughter flew out from her new home in TN back to CA. When she saw for herself the lack of urgency and neglect she brought him back to TN. Unfortunately, with in 72 hours of taking him to the UT Medical Center he was diagnosed with very advanced pancreatic cancer that had spread to the liver. He wasn’t ready to see that light again... he wanted to do so much more, enjoy TN with his daughter and family and wanted to live another 20 years.
Ray passed approximately 4:30pm on December 10th at the age of 77 and left behind a loving daughter Julie, Son-in-law Ron and endearing granddaughter Haley, two younger brothers Lisle and Dwayne and many, many friends.
A quote from Ray’s Twitter account-
We are riding into history with no prisoners for baggage.
Speaking free under our flag
Never to take a knee
A nation under God is our first decree
And the only reason to take our knees
~Ray Sultzbaugh 2019
His interests and talents were many. While attending Whittier High School he was the wrestling champ all 4 years. He was of small stature but that never stopped him from flipping and pinning down a 250lb giant. A testimony to his character of strength.
Upon graduating high school Ray almost became a dental technician, at 16 he made a set of dentures fir a neighbor that said they were the best dentures he ever had. His mother was a dental assistant and he loved to play around with the dental equipment. Due to the impatience of wanting to make money he opted instead to became a metal spinner, which he loved. He started a company called Braskil Inc. located in Whittier, CA. One year, Braskil was selected to make the bases for the coveted Academy Awards. Shortly after that in the late 70’s Taiwan started making less expensive (lower quality) products many customers began buying up. Ray saw the writing on the wall and sold the business to his partner. Five years later, his partner not being able to fulfill the terms of the contract due to the company going under, left Ray short changed. It was time to move onto one of his next, of many adventures.
Ray received his CA Real Estate License in 1989. Shortly after that he was called to Northern CA where his mothers soul mate had just passed. He resettled in Oregonhouse, CA to help his mother with a 6 year long probate suit and stayed with her until her death in 2017. During his years in Oregonhouse he went back to school and received his Business AA Degree, Appraisers License, Brokers License, started a Property Management company and also got into the mortgage industry. He often joked he should have become a Real Estate attorney for all the legalities he seemed to mediate...
Through his years he always pursued his interests and dreams. One of these dreams was finding the remains and continuation of a silver outcrop he had seen cut off and covered up some 50 years ago. He loved the CA desert and mountains and dug up many treasures in Bodie. Ray loved American History and altho he never served he became a modern day digital warrior beginning in 2015 and had over 43k Twitter followers. This truly will be his legacy, as Hundreds and hundreds of prayers and condolences has reached his daughter. People most commonly said “ray is kind, helpful, knowledgeable and a peacemaker”
For those interested in his patriotic thoughts his handle was @rsultzba
Ray was married twice. His first marriage was to Cheryl R Sharp of Ontario, Ca the mother of his daughter Julie Ann. His second marriage was to Kathy Campbell of La Mirada, CA. Upon divorcing his 1st wife he entered into AA where his Sponsor Chuck Chamberlain author of “A New Pair of Glasses” led him to sobriety that lasted until his passing. Not once did he fall off the wagon, which is a testament to his strength. He met his 2nd wife at a AA meeting and he pursued her until she gave in. He remained active in the AA community and was involved with speaking at Tehachapi prison every month over 11 years. One prisoner asked him to be his sponsor and they were great friends right up to his passing.
He always talked about a light he was in, the 1st time he died. In 1968 after drinking one night, he drove a Ford Corvair into a parked Cadillac at 65 miles an hour. The gear shift knob went through his liver and the doctors did a experimental surgery that saved his life. During that surgery his heart stopped and he experienced something very rare. He saw himself on the operating table and then saw and felt himself going thru a warm and peaceful light. Not wanting to leave he found himself being told to go back that it wasn’t his time and he had more to do.
After suffering more than 10 months trying to get the So CA medical community to help figure out why he was in daily pain, and not getting any answers...his daughter flew out from her new home in TN back to CA. When she saw for herself the lack of urgency and neglect she brought him back to TN. Unfortunately, with in 72 hours of taking him to the UT Medical Center he was diagnosed with very advanced pancreatic cancer that had spread to the liver. He wasn’t ready to see that light again... he wanted to do so much more, enjoy TN with his daughter and family and wanted to live another 20 years.
Ray passed approximately 4:30pm on December 10th at the age of 77 and left behind a loving daughter Julie, Son-in-law Ron and endearing granddaughter Haley, two younger brothers Lisle and Dwayne and many, many friends.
A quote from Ray’s Twitter account-
We are riding into history with no prisoners for baggage.
Speaking free under our flag
Never to take a knee
A nation under God is our first decree
And the only reason to take our knees
~Ray Sultzbaugh 2019