Obituary of Richard Roger Garay

Richard Roger Garay

January 15, 1947 - June 8, 2017

Doctor Richard Roger Garay, 70, passed away and was reunited with Diana Lim Garay on Thursday, June 8, 2017.

A memorial of his life will be held at Living Hope Church, 2533 NE Andresen Rd, Vancouver, WA 98661, on Saturday, July 1st at 1 PM. In lieu of flowers, donations to the memorial page the family has set up with the American Heart Association (http://honor.americanheart.org/goto/Richard_Garay) are appreciated.

Richard was born in St Albans, New York on January 15, 1947, to William and Louise and lived in East Rockaway until his early teens when the family moved to Houston. Senator Ralph Yarborough appointed Richard to the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he graduated in 1969. He subsequently entered the US Army with the rank of Second Lieutenant. He married Elizabeth Smallwood in December 1969, and they were married for eleven years, during which time they had his first two sons, Chris and Jeff. After he left the Army, with the rank of Captain, in 1975 he pursued a career in dentistry. In 1980, he married Diana, with whom he had his third son, Stephen, and was at her side when she passed away in 2001. Richard moved to the Pacific Northwest in 1992 where he continued to practice as a dentist. In 2005, Richard married Elizabeth White, and they were married for eleven years. He had a jovial personality and loved to joke and tell stories. Richard was active, enjoying skiing, scuba diving, cycling, dancing, and working out regularly at the gym.

Richard leaves numerous friends and relatives behind as he passes on, among whom number the following: his sons, Christopher, Jeffrey, and Stephen; his siblings and their spouses, respectively, William and Mary; Louise and Andre’ and John and Barbara; his former wives, Elizabeth Smallwood and Elizabeth White, and her children, Anthony and Michael, and grandchildren, Ali and Aidan; numerous nieces, nephews, grand-nieces, and grand-nephews, as well as his mother- and father-in- law, Wayne and May.