RAYMOND D. BLAIR
1942-2017
RAY BLAIR, 75, a lifelong resident and native of Houston, TX passed away August 24, 2017 in New Iberia, LA after a brief illness.
Raymond Douglas Blair was the eldest of the children of Allen H. Blair and Maidell Johnson Blair. He was followed by his sister Dianne, a brother Don, and the youngest brother Wayne. Ray is survived by a son, Stephen Rasmussen; siblings Dianne & Don; cousins Jane Ashe, Sara Draper, John Draper, & Greg Draper. He is also survived by a dear friend while he resided in Ragin’ Cajun’ country, Linda Delano.
Ray was predeceased by a daughter, Tracy Blair Boudreaux; a brother Wayne; Roger Mark Blair, a brother who died in infancy; his parents; grandmothers Lillian E. Washburn and Inez Wolkarte Blair; his much-loved aunt, Sue Blair Draper and her husband Jim; cousins Ann Draper Vaughn, Doug Draper, and Walter Draper.
He is survived also by seven grandchildren.
After graduating from Marian High School in 1960, Ray joined the Corps of Cadets at Texas A & M. In much the same manner as his dad, he chose to major in engineering. But he decided to pursue electronics/digital microprocessor hardware & software design. Also like his father Al, he learned, mastered and improved upon concepts in his field considerably ahead of his time.
Over his career, Ray’s work in electronic design contracting & consulting included a variety of applications in a number of different industries. While contracting & consulting for Houston Digital Instruments, Inc. he provided continuing analog design & support for a complete line of oil field, LCD pressure guages. Also he designed a pit volume measuring/monitoring system for drilling rigs.
For Houston Tracker Systems, Ray designed an entire satellite receiver for all dish signals, power, and control. While working for Dresser Atlas he was promoted to Group Manager responsible for upgrading all truck-based computer systems used for oil well logging. And while working on behalf of NL McCullough of Houston, he was Manager of Production Logging Development and Wireline Telemetry.
While a student at Texas A &M, Ray earned the Distinguished Student Award. He was on the Dean’s List at the University of Houston, and he received the President’s Annual Award for Achievement while excelling on the job at NL McCullough.
A Memorial Service will be held at the “Aggie Field of Honor” chapel, 3800 Raymond Stotzer Pkwy, College Station, TX on Friday evening Oct. 20 at 6:00pm. The funeral ‘Rite of Committal’ will take place at the same location on Saturday morning Oct. 21 at 10:00am. More details can be learned by contacting Don at 337-3805605.
Honorary pall bearers are Doug Knesek, Dave Knesek, Duane Knesek, Greg Draper, and John Draper. The last two honorary positions go to two very special friends & colleagues for whom Ray had high regard all of his life: Larry Flash (deceased) and Dave Tigwell.
In lieu of flowers, the family would suggest a donation to the charity of your choice -- or to the engineering department for the favorite college or trade school of your choice in Ray’s name. Don’s contact phone:
337-380-5605