Obituary of Raymond Sturgis

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Raymond Sturgis

March 18, 1918 - October 20, 2010

Hampton Union, Tuesday, October 26, 2010

[The following article is courtesy of the Hampton Union and Seacoast Online.]

Raymond Sturgis of Sarasota died Oct. 20, 2010.

Services will be at 2 p.m. Nov. 3, 2010, at the Shrine of the Master Church in Sarasota.

Raymond was born in Seabrook, N.H. He was preceded in death by his mother, Charlotte May Cahoon, adopted grandparents Walter H. and Minnie Sturgis, and son Guy E. Sturgis. He was married to Eleanor Felch (deceased) and Ina Boyd (deceased). Survivors include Raymond C. (Phyla), Sue Betty Young (Skip), Charlotte May Ross (Larry), Gay Wolf (Patrick), Edward Boyd (Dawn), 15 grandchildren, and numerous great-grandchildren.

He graduated from Groveland High School, attended Springfield College, and graduated from Boston School of Embalming and New England School of Mortuary Science. He owned and operated Sturgis Funeral Home in Hampton, N.H., for 25 years.

Positions he held in Hampton were selectman, health officer of civil defense, director of Chamber of Commerce and chief of auxiliary police.

He was active in many civic activities throughout his life. He was past president of Hampton Kiwanis, a member of Noble Grand Odd Fellows, a Mason at St. James (Hampton) and Bectash Temple (Venice), and a member of Elks BPOE.

He was past president of the Rockingham YMCA in New Hampshire, the Funeral Directors Association in New Hampshire, and the Salvation Army in Rockingham, N.H. He was also the superintendent of Sunday schools at the Hampton Congregational Church. He started the first Cub Scouts troop in Hampton.

Moving to Sarasota in 1971, he became an advertising agent for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Venice office until 1985.

He was a member of the Nokomis Rotary, past president of the Venice Mercantile Association, and an active volunteer over the years with the Sarasota Airport, the library and the Salvation Army.

His family was among the original developers of the St. Petersburg area in the 1920's. He was a man of many interests, being a pilot and mariner. He flew a glider on his 85th birthday. He was a man of a thousand friends and a million stories, and a giver of love to all he met.

Donations maybe made to the Shriners Hospital for Children in Tampa, or to the Haiti Medical Missions c/o Episcopal Diocese of Alabama, 521 N. 20th St., Birmingham, AL 35203.

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