Raymond Heiser

Time of Sharing and Funeral Mass is posted in the video below.

Raymond Heiser
January 5, 1930 – December 26, 2025

Raymond Heiser passed away on December 26, 2025. He was born on January 5, 1930, in Dunn County, North Dakota, the second oldest of six children born to Max and Mary (Wittinger) Heiser. Ray was proud to be the oldest Heiser on record at 95.

Ray spent his early years on a farm near Emerson, North Dakota, where he developed a lifelong love of hunting—armed with a single-shot .22 and an ample supply of rabbits. In 1942, Ray and his family moved to Wheatland, North Dakota, where he famously learned how to add the letter “r” to the word shirt and graduated in 1947. He played basketball and was also on the boxing team, and on occasion was known to use some of his boxing skills on the court. Like many farm kids, Ray held a variety of odd jobs, from stacking 100-pound bags of potatoes to running a team of horses. With a natural curiosity and entrepreneurial spirit, he ordered a book on engine repair and soon had a junked 1932 Model T running—later selling it for a profit.
In the summer of 1947, Ray and his family moved to Portland, Oregon, where he worked at Sears Roebuck for a few months until he was old enough to enlist in the United States Navy. Ray served five years at sea aboard a submarine. His training took place in New London, Connecticut, and was then based in San Diego, California. His service included multiple tours to and from Japan during the Korean War.

While on leave in San Diego, Ray met and married Mary Vandenbrook in 1950. He was honorably discharged from the Navy in December 1952, and in the spring of 1953 they moved to Geneva, Illinois. Mary later became ill and passed away October 1956, but not before they welcomed three wonderful children into the world: Katherine, Mary (Christine), and Tom.

While living in Geneva, Ray owned and managed Duke and Ray’s Garage, where he could often be found pulling wrenches, telling stories, and making lifelong memories. On July 4, 1957, Ray’s brother Jim invited him on a blind date, where Ray met Doris Layhon. After a lengthy courtship—consisting of two additional dates—Ray and Doris were married on November 23, 1957, in Valley City, North Dakota.

Raised on a farm, the call of farm life was never far away. In 1959 Ray sold his share of the garage and purchased land and a farmstead north of Verona, North Dakota. Farming was never dull, especially with livestock. Over the years, Ray raised cows, pigs, sheep, chickens, ducks, horses, cats, dogs, a beefalo, and a llama. He especially enjoyed growing and harvesting grain, including wheat, corn, barley, oats, flax, durum, millet, and sunflowers.

Ray was the local on-call mechanic, always willing to lend a hand. He was never too busy to get a combine running or tune up a vehicle. When asked where his car analyzer was, Ray famously replied, “I am the analyzer.”

Ray retired from grain farming in 1980 due to farmer’s lung but kept cattle for several more years. He rented much of the land to neighboring farmers and opened Ray’s Garage, where he spent countless hours pulling wrenches and smashing knuckles. Ray never fully retired—he always looked forward to fixing a broken-down vehicle or hatching chicks so there was something running around the farm.

Ray loved to travel. He and Doris spent more than 20 winters in Texas in “his” motorhome, where they formed many cherished friendships. That motorhome carried them to countless states, Mexico, the Rockies, the West Coast, Banff in Canada, and hundreds of state parks. Rarely did they travel alone—the motorhome was often filled with children and grandchildren.

Ray’s love of travel was matched only by his love of the outdoors. He believed in working hard and playing hard. Even during the busiest farming seasons, Ray made time—often reserving Sundays, as long as church was attended Saturday night—for fishing trips with kids and friends. In later years, every day was a good day to go fishing, and he went at the drop of a hat. Ray hunted nearly all North Dakota game species and proudly harvested an elk, moose, antelope, pheasants, and countless deer with his trusty .30-06 Savage. Just weeks before his passing, at age 95, Ray harvested his final deer on the family farm.

Ray also had a green thumb and spent many hours in his gardens—which came in quite handy feeding nine children. He was especially proud of his watermelons and cantaloupes. He grew his own grapes, converted one bathroom into a winery and produced hundreds of gallons of what became known as “Ray’s Bathroom Wine.”

Ray welcomed many foreign exchange students into his home over the years, making them part of the family. They came from Mexico, Brazil, Nicaragua, Japan and Chicago.

Ray is survived by his wife, Doris, his children, Katherine (Kent) Plessner, Mary Christine “Chris” Heiser, Gerald (Cynthia) Heiser, Dorothy (Tony) Martinez, Theresa (Gary Meyer) Heiser, Mischelle (My) Highman, JoAnne (Dan) Jacobson, Alex (Nancy) Heiser, and a large loving family of 22 grandchildren, 26 great-grandchildren, 8 great-great grandchildren. He is also survived by his sisters, Helen Metcalf and Ruth Anne Schmidt. Ray was preceded in death by his parents, Max and Mary Heiser, his first wife, Mary Vandenbrook, his sisters, Rosalie Peters and Isabel Wooden; his brother, Jim Heiser; his son, Tom Heiser; his daughter in-law, Judith Heiser; and his step-grandson, Dustin Richter.

Ray’s love for Doris was always evident, and together they built a home filled with laughter and generosity—one that welcomed everyone and fostered love, laughter and lasting friendships. Of everything Ray accomplished—United States Navy veteran, business owner, master mechanic, successful farmer, blue-ribbon gardener, storyteller and encyclopedia of jokes (“Did you hear the one about… Raymond, enough!”), one-shot hunter, and the one who always seemed to catch the first fish—Ray would still say, “My greatest accomplishment in life is this family surrounding me.

Snacks and Ray’s Bathroom Wine served at Verona Public School following burial.