Raymond Leroy Radcliff

Resided in Gladstone, MI
Died June 17, 2014

Gladstone, MI
Raymond Leroy Radcliff, age 91, of Gladstone passed away Tuesday morning, June 17, 2014 at Lakeview Assisted Living in Gladstone.

Raymond was born in Traverse City, Michigan on June 26, 1922, the son of Carl and Lillian (Mears) Radcliff. Raymond joined the United States Navy where he served as a baker for 22 years. He was a member of the V.F. W., the American Legion and the Fraternal Order of the Elks. He also enjoyed fishing, camping and playing and watching sports.

Raymond is survived by his wife, Shirley Radcliff of Gladstone, his step-daughter, Edna (Richard) Johnson of Bark River; his step-son, Michael (Beverly) Gilligan of Escondido, California; 11 grandchildren, 18 great grandchildren and his sister, Deana Smith of Martinez, Georgia.

He was preceded in death by his parents, step-daughter, Geraldine Schimmeyer, step-son, Patrick Gilligan and brother-in-law, Garret Smith.

There will be no public services and burial will be in the Sacred Heart Cemetery in Schaffer.

– If I be the first of us to die, Let grief not blacken long your sky. Be bold yet modest in your grieving. There is a change but not a leaving. For just as death is part of life, The dead live on forever in the living. And all the gathered riches of our journey, The moments shared, the mysteries explored, The steady layering of intimacy stored, The things that made us laugh or weep or sing, The joy of sunlit snow or first unfurling of the spring, The wordless language of look and touch, The knowing, Each giving and each taking, These are not flowers that fade,
Nor trees that fall and crumble, Nor are the stone, For even stone cannot the wind and rain withstand And mighty mountain peaks in time reduce to sand. What we were, we are. What we had, we have. A conjoined past imperishably present. So when you walk the wood where once we walked together And scan in vain the dappled bank beside you for my shadow, Or pause where we always did upon the hill to gaze across the land, And spotting something, reach by habit for my hand, And finding none, feel sorrow start to steal upon you, Be still. Close your eyes. Breathe. Listen for my footfall in your heart. I am not gone but merely walk within you. –

The Skradski Funeral Home in Gladstone is assisting the family.

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