Exemplifying a life well lived, George Ray Obendorf, known as Ray in his lifelong Treasure Valley community, died Friday, June 28, four days after his 101st birthday.
Burial services will be at 11 a.m. on July 11 at Lower Boise Cemetery in Parma, ID. Following will be a Celebration of Life lunch at The Dixie Hop Picker, 26694 Dixie Road, Parma.
Ray was Born June 24, 1923, in Caldwell, ID, to George Bernard Obendorf and Edith Cornelia (Trout) Obendorf. He died in the home he built in 1955 near his birthplace.
Ray’s father farmed on the Wilder Bench until he died in 1933, and Ray followed in his footsteps with his first field of onions when he was 14.
He graduated from Wilder High School, where he played basketball and was class valedictorian. He attended the University of Idaho for one year and studied engineering before he had to return home and take over the family farm.
While onions were his first love, in 1948, his neighbor Pud Gooding said that if Ray grew hops, Gooding would dry them. Thus, Obendorf Farms was started on 20 acres, with Ray’s older brothers, Bernard and Orville, working with him.
During that time, Ray met his future bride at the Claytonia Dances in Marsing, ID, and he and Marjorie Dorolene Volkmer were married on Dec. 16, 1949, in Parma, ID. They were married for 57 years and had two children, Teresa Ann Obendorf of Eagle, ID, and Gregory Ray Obendorf (Ann) of Parma.
His online tribute noted that Ray “was very involved in the hop industry and traveled around the world promoting the United States’ position.”
Ray was also an avid golfer, and his tribute said his grandsons could never beat him, even when Ray was 99!
Ray and Dorolene spent their retirement years golfing in Mesa, AZ. Dorolene passed away in 2006, and two years later, Ray remarried. He and his wife, Carole Helen of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and Mesa, enjoyed their years in Arizona and Edmonton, and Parma. Ray and Carole traveled extensively and shared their love of golf.
Ray is survived by his children and grandchildren Phillip George Obendorf (Whitney), Brock Heinrich Obendorf, Christian Ray Obendorf (Morgan) and Connery Houston Clark. He is also survived by six great grandchildren.
Grandsons, Phillip, Brock, and Christian are responsible for the continuation of Obendorf Farms.
Ray was preceded in death by his two brothers, Bernard Walter Obendorf and Orville Wayne Obendorf and one sister Marie Elizabeth Harris, and his first wife Marjorie Dorolene Obendorf.
The family would like to thank Home Instead for their wonderful care and the same for Horizon Home Health and Hospice.
