Raymond R. Huntington
August 23, 1933 – October 20, 2019
Ray Huntington, 86, of Greenport, N.Y., and formerly of Northport and Cutchogue, N.Y., passed away peacefully on Sunday night surrounded by family after a valiant fight with lung cancer.
Born in Hempstead and raised in Malverne and Lynbrook, he was the son of James Wallace Huntington and Elsie (Scholz) Huntington.
He graduated from Farmingdale College and Long Island University and went on to excel at Grumman Aerospace Corporation for more than 42 years, progressing through positions of increasing responsibility; always and ever the engineer. He contributed to many of the most challenging projects of the early space program, including the lunar module, Apollo missions, and the space shuttle wings, as well as numerous important aircraft programs (F-14, F-16, F-18 Hornet, E-2 Hawkeye and others). He remembered Grumman fondly as a wonderful, tight-knit band of people working purposefully together to solve the problems of the day and innovate for the future.
He proudly served the Northport community through many activities in the schools. He was elected to the Northport/East Northport School Board for eight years and served as its president for four years.
Ray and his wife, Bea, retired in 1995 to Fleets Neck in Cutchogue to sail, golf, and enjoy time with family and friends at the Pequash and Fleets Neck Property Owners Association beaches. He served as FNPOA president for many years. Ray also worked tirelessly on land preservation and water quality projects serving on and leading teams to save the bucolic scenery and aquifers of many North Fork communities for generations to come. He was a primary force in the passage of the Southold Community Preservation Fund and was appointed to the first Southold land preservation committee in 1998. He also served many years on the town’s shellfish committee and North Fork Environmental Council. He then went on to rekindle his love for painting, as well as research and debate, with old and new friends at Peconic Landing in Greenport.
Kind, loving, with an exacting attention to detail, and just a little bit of the imp; he is remembered by many for his thoughtfulness, sense of humor, love of nature, plentiful stories, many theories, and first-rate problem solving for the world at the Men’s Forum and beyond.
Ray is survived by Beatrice B. Huntington, his loving wife of 63 years; his daughter Nancy Huntington Stager and her husband, Jim, of Reading, Mass. and Bass River, Cape Cod; his daughter Holly Huntington Hellman and her husband, Charles, of Westport, Conn.; and his sister, Mary Anne Huntington of Cutchogue. He was a loving grandfather of four: Brian James Huntington Stager and his wife, Sinéad, Alison Elizabeth Huntington Stager, Gregory Huntington Hellman and William Huntington Hellman.
He will be deeply missed by many loving members of the Huntington, Scholz and Burbee families, as well as by friends across the North Fork, who cherished his wit, insights and wisdom.
In celebration of his life, visitors will be received in friendship and fellowship Thursday, Oct. 24, from 3 to 7 p.m. at Coster-Heppner Funeral Home in Cutchogue. Father Richard Hoerning of St. Agnes Church in Greenport will offer special prayers at 6 p.m. Interment will be private at Sacred Heart Cemetery in Cutchogue.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Cradle of Aviation Museum, Attention: Carol Nelson, One Davis Ave., Garden City, NY 11530.
This is a paid notice.
