Raymond Earl Deese

Raymond Earl Deese, known as Ray or Bubba depending on where and when you met him, passed away peacefully at home on April 20, 2017 from lung cancer. He showed great strength and determination in his final days as he did his entire life. He was born on August 2, 1941 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama to Marvin and Margaret (Fair) Deese. He loved to mention that he had a well in the front yard and an outhouse in the backyard, churned butter, picked cotton, went to school barefoot and took baths in a galvanized tub as a young child. At the age of 17, freshly graduated from Tuscaloosa High, class of 1959, he joined the US Marine Corps. He served for 4 years, stationed in locations such as Okinawa, Japan and Soc Trang, South Vietnam. When he left the corps, he migrated to California eventually settled in Fullerton, buying a home with two other former Marines. While working at Beckman Instruments, he established a lifelong love of and career in electronics and along the way made lifelong friends as well. Although busy, Ray did manage to find time to get his AA at Fullerton Junior College. He later moved to Placentia where he was a volunteer fireman and started one of his first businesses, Deeseplay. It started as a project for school, in which he created a novel way of displaying coins and other collectibles, which he then patented and sold worldwide. Ray moved on from Beckman to Sunkist Growers RD in Ontario where he helped set up automatic grading and sizing equipment in packing houses in Central California. He also helped develop a shipboard fumigating system during the medfly crisis for fruit being shipped overseas. In 1983, he left Sunkist to venture out on his own and put his fulltime energy into Electro-Techs in Anaheim. By 1990, the business relocated to larger quarters in Corona. He was ingenious and loved to develop and design new products. He developed the first LED traffic signal and obtained patents for other LED lighting and controls. Ray was proud of being a Marine and every year he would have a luncheon in honor of the Marine Corps. Birthday. He was equally proud of being a veteran and all the veterans that served our country and he became involved with the George Ingalls Memorial Plaza in Norco and was proud to serve on the executive committee. Ray was a true advocate and supporter of TNR (Trap, Neuter, Return) for feral cats. He spent the last 15 years, trapping and caring for hundreds of feral kitties . Ray is survived by his wife of 35 years, Mari, their son Garratt, their daughter Danielle and son-in-law Ryan Johnson, his daughter from a previous marriage Michelle and son-in-law Jeff Stauber and two grandsons. He is also survived by his brother David and sister-in-law, Phyllis, numerous nieces and nephews and many other loving family members. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial contributions be made to Mary S. Roberts Pet Adoption Center. Service Location Not Available Thursday 5/4, 11:00 am - 12:00 pm Cemetery Riverside National Cemetery Staging Area #4 Thursday 1/1 Riverside National Cemetery Staging Area #4 Thursday 5/4, 1:15 pm