Obituary: Raymond Michael Kruczek, 80, of Guilford

This obituary is provided by the Guilford Funeral Home:

Raymond Michael Kruczek passed away suddenly on Thursday 4/30/2020. Born July 9, 1939 in Holyoke, MA to the late Louis and Nina (Anop) Kruczek. Raymond married his Holyoke High School sweetheart Marlene (Gill) who together raised five sons.

Raymond received his Bachelors in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University, where he lettered in hockey, and his Masters in Engineering from NYU. After college, Raymond spent two years in active duty during the Vietnam era as a Lieutenant in the US Army Signal Corps. He began his engineering career at Westinghouse Research Center in Pittsburgh, PA, followed by 34 years at Norden Systems in Norwalk, CT, where he worked in design and development of military radar and display systems. Raymond retired as a Senior Systems Engineer manager. After retiring, he fulfilled his lifelong passion for teaching, becoming an adjunct math instructor at SCSU for 10 years and tutoring high school students struggling with math and those that wanted to increase their SAT score.

He spoke fondly of his hockey days at Cornell, his softball days at Norden Systems, and his years of coaching little league baseball in both Milford and Guilford, CT. He was an avid toy train collector and repairer. He loved to “tinker” and was known to never give up on any repair. While his children were young, he played his bass all around CT in his band “Light”. He put his bass down for a while but picked it up again after retirement, playing the blues for 25+ years in the “Mamma Jamma” band. Occasionally, he was called up to play with his good friends in The Tommy Castro Band. He took great joy in watching his sons and grandchildren in all their after-school activities. He wouldn’t miss any of them even if it meant hours of driving for a 3-minute musical solo or a few innings of a baseball game. Ray enjoyed traveling to the Caribbean on an annual Blues Cruise with Marlene. He also finally got to see his beloved Red Sox win the World Series, attending games in 2004, 2007 and 2013.

We will all miss his quick wit, his uncanny ability to make people laugh no matter the circumstance and his dedication to those he loved.

He leaves his five sons Kenneth of Hartford, CT, Karl of Tahlequah,OK , Kurt (Christine) of West Hartford, CT, Kyle (Sue) of Guilford, CT and Klay (Jessica), of Guilford, CT, Karl’s children (Sara, Sylvie and Karsen), Kurt’s daughters (Katherine, Emily and Samantha), Kyle’s children (Haley and Teagan) and Klay's daughter (Marlee), and his brother Thomas (Dorie) of Sturbridge, MA.

He was predeceased by his grandson Nick Kruczek, with whom he will again be watching Cornell and Bruins hockey.

A celebration of life will be held in June. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the GHS Music Department c/o Raymond Kruczek, 605 New England Road, Guilford, CT 06437.

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