Raymond William Van Stralen

Ray Van Stralen
A special man has passed over to start a new journey. Ray was a loving and appreciative husband to Betty (Kerkhof) for almost 60 years, and the most wonderful father to Diane, Donna, Mary and her husband Nouri, Alan and his wife Reema, and Dan and his wife Jennifer, all residing in Northern California, plus the many who adopted him as their dad and grandpa also! He was fortunate to have seven adoring grandchildren, Matthew, Anissa, Kira, Olivia, Max, Eva, and John. He only missed seeing his first great grandson by a few months. He is also survived by two brothers, Jim and Ken (Margie), and three sisters, Marilyn Huth, Joyce (Jim) Ebben and Gloria (Jack) Willimason and brothers-in-law Roman Meier and Herman Ciha. He was preceded in death by his sisters Alice Meier, Rita Ciha, and baby Mary, his sister-in-law Marion, as well as his parents Albert and Marie (Van Elzen) Van Stralen and his in-laws George and Anna (Ebben) Kerkhof. His grandson Max greeted him also.
He was born in Kimberly, Wisconsin on August 30, 1930 and passed away at the age of 85 on July 28, 2016 in Pleasant Hill, CA where he and Betty have lived since 1994. He spent 39 years as a sheet-metal tradesman at the former paper mill in Kimberly where he retired in 1988.
One of his fondest early memories was the camaraderie with his fellow soldiers while in the army in Germany during the Korean War.

He was an avid Packers fan and had season tickets until he moved to California, although that didn't keep him from continuing to root for his favorite team!
Modeling became a retirement hobby while in Wisconsin and he continued having fun with it for many years in California as well. The highlight was his role in the 'N Sync video "This I Promise You".

After moving to California he spent many years volunteering for the organization "Caring Hands" by helping other seniors with chores and errands that they were not able to do. He was often teased about all of the women in his life!

He will be greatly missed. We slowly lost the person that we knew and loved, but his thoughtful and generous spirit never waned. Everybody loved Raymond!