Rayburn Earnest Whitt
January 11, 1936 ~ March 15, 2013
Resided in:
Asheville, NC
Asheville Butterfly Trail
Rayburn Earnest Whitt, 77, of Asheville, died Friday, March 15, 2013 at his residence.
A native of Buncombe County, he was a son of the late Mariett and Jessie Gentry Whitt. He was also preceded in death by two sisters, Blanche Whitt and Irene Riddle as well as one brother, Homer Whitt.
Ray was a United States Navy Veteran, serving during the Korean Conflict. He was employed by the Asheville Fire Department for 27 years and retired as the District Chief of Station One (the Downtown Station).
He is survived by his wife, Carolyn "Susie" Grose Whitt; one daughter, Stacey Griffin and her husband, David, of Arden; one son, Stephen Stephenson and his wife, Autumn, of Arden; two sisters, Louise Justice and Mary Foister, both of Asheville as well as seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
A graveside service will be held at 11:00 AM, Tuesday, March 19, 2013 at Piney Mountain Baptist Church Cemetery in Weaverville.
The family will receive friends from 5:00-7:00 PM on Monday, March 18, 2013 at Groce Funeral Home at Lake Julian.
View current weather.
Memories Timeline
Guestbook
Sign the Guestbook, Light a Candle
I will miss you forever!! I loved you then and I still love you now!! My life will never be the same without you dad!
Ray you will be sorely missed. I am so glad that I had the honor of knowing you for as long as I did. Everytime I seen you you had a smile on your face, and you would make me smile as well. You were a great man and I will miss you dearly. Love ya
Karen
I will always Love and Miss you My Uncle ! I will always remember How when you seen me you would say Hi Miss Dawn ! You were a wonderful person and a great Husband to my Aunt and a Father to her children and grand children ! You will forever be missed Rest in Paradise My Friend until we see you again Love your Niece …….. Dawn
You will be missed! You always had a smile on your face and could always make anyone smile. I was blessed to have known you!
I still remember Ray when Madison was born saying ‘You know what I’m saying’ He was a good man and you could tell how much that he loved his family. He will be missed.
Hey bud,it’s Griff,what can I say, man I already miss you so much. You have and always will be such a huge inspiration to me. You are the definition of what a man should be and I’ll be forever grateful for knowing you.You taught me so much In the short years I had with you,thank you so much for being my kindred spirit in music. Here is something I wrote for you. ‘ I’ll always miss you and by the way,I think about you and the memories,they’ll never go away.I know I’ll see you again, where we will always be alive.’
My thoughts and prayers are with the family at this sad time Ray was a good friend to me since i worked at APD next door to him.He will be greatly missed.
Susie, Stacey, Louise and family,
We are so sorry to hear of Ray’s passing and your loss. He has been such a good friend of mine and my family over the past 15 years. He has also been my longtime bingo buddy. How I loved to hear his stories of his many adventures. We will miss him!
You were always so nice to us when we came to visit – we felt right
at home on your porch – Thanks! Thank you for being so good to
David. We will miss you!
So sorry for your loss your family is in our prayers.Bill & Ruby Godfrey
very sorry for your loss. Ray was one of a kind and a great friend to the whole fire department.
Susie and family,
We are so very sorry for your loss. May your sweet and happy memories together give you comfort. With love, Gary and Carolyn