Ray Why was one of those people who would always sit in the back pew of the sanctuary on Sunday mornings. No, he wasn’t trying to hide from the pastor or grab a quick nap while the weekly message was being delivered.
The reason you could always find Ray near the rear of the sanctuary at the First Presbyterian Church of Beaver Falls was because that’s where people enter for worship. That meant everyone who entered had to walk past Ray, giving him an opportunity to not only say hello to his friends but also greet and welcome any new people to the worship service. It was his way of serving the church that he loved.
“It didn’t matter if he knew them or not, he would always be there to greet them, welcome them into the church,” said First Beaver Falls Church member Larry Ott. “Anybody who came through the doors, he would stand up, talk to them and introduce himself if he didn’t know them.
“The people that did come into church that did know him would always walk by, shake his hand and start up a conversation. He’d talk to anybody and everybody that would come by. He was outgoing; good personality, very friendly.”
Even in the weeks before he passed away on Feb. 5 at the age of 96, Ray could be found in his customary seat near the back of the sanctuary. It’s an empty seat now, but his example lives on.
“That’s one thing I really learned off of him,” Larry continued. “When people come in now, if we get people I haven’t seen before, I try to greet them the same way. ‘You’re always welcome to come in these doors.’”
Ray served the church in many ways, including in 1970 when he was the moderator of the region that was at the time called the Synod of Pennsylvania. He was also the moderator of Beaver-Butler Presbytery twice, a rare feat that also exemplifies the impact he had on the area.
“It speaks to Ray and his long-term devotion to the church,” said David Oyler, who served as the temporary executive presbyter at Beaver-Butler Presbytery in 2018-20. “The first time was 1969 and the second time was 44 years later in 2013. It points to the fact that his name was out there on the radar screen, and he was probably still attending presbytery meetings regularly.
“It speaks very well of him being committed to the church, not for a term of 12 months of being the moderator and then disappearing back into the woodwork. He loved the church and was connected to it and therefore they reapproached him many years later to consider being the moderator once again in his retirement years.”
To read a complete obituary for Ray Why, click here.
Ray was of Chinese descent, and when he was the moderator in Beaver-Butler in 1969 and of the synod in 1970, he was one of the first – and possibly even the first – person not of European American heritage to serve in those capacities.
“His thorough integration into a culture where he was a minority, he didn’t see that as an overwhelmingly large obstacle or roadblock to his involvement within the church,” David added. “As I understand it, in the 1930s and ’40s, they were the only Chinese American family living in the Beaver Falls area. They became quite integrated into the community.”
With Ray being in his late 80s when David was leading Beaver-Butler Presbytery, Ray didn’t attend many of the mid council’s meetings during David’s two-and-a-half years there. However, with David also serving as the executive presbyter in the nearby Presbytery of Lake Erie for the 17 years prior, David was certainly familiar with who Ray was.
“I knew his name by reputation – by reputation in a very positive sense of the word – because of his longevity and involvement in this region of the Presbyterian Church, and in Beaver-Butler Presbytery in particular,” David said.
It wasn’t until David accepted an invitation to serve as transitional pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Beaver Falls in the summer of 2022 that he got to know Ray firsthand. Ray helped coordinate the men’s Bible study at Beaver Falls Church. It was a ministry that was near and dear to his heart.
“If you were at the Beaver Falls Church the second Saturday of each month,” David explained, “at 8:30 he would always properly convene this men’s Bible study that would have 10 or 12 people in it. Not at 8:31. He was a person of devoted commitment, always on time with everything.”
Ray’s love of God and passion for religious teachings went far beyond his own congregation.
“It was clear he was a man of deep, devoted Christian faith,” David said. “It was clear he was devoted to his personal Christian faith but also to the Church. The devotion to the larger Church is not particularly overall evident among ruling elders – maybe a little more so for teaching elders. But he clearly for decades had held up the desire to be involved in the regional – the presbytery, the synod and the General Assembly – levels of the denomination.”
Ray became a fixture in the Beaver Falls community through his work as a self-employed engineer. He was dedicated to his profession and was still working two weeks before his passing.
“He was an electrical engineer,” Larry said, “and he got his own business just so he could spend more time with the church and do church activities. His office was right across the street from the church that way he could spend more time with matters concerning the church.”
“I saw him about 15 hours before he died,” David added, “and in our conversation, he was referring to a project that he’s been working on for a church in Allegheny County near Pittsburgh and that was still on his mind even in the final hours of his life.”
That commitment is something Ray had instilled in himself in both his work and church lives.
“He was absolutely thoroughly completely committed to being at worship, even as his health was declining some,” David said. “I’ll miss his very thorough devotion to his timely commitment to the church.”
“I’ll miss his friendship,” Larry added. “The one thing he impressed upon me more than anything else was his love for the church. He would do anything for the church. (I’ll miss) his love for his own family, his love for the community, and his love for the Pittsburgh Steelers.”
He was a devoted Pittsburgh sports fan, with the Steelers being at the top of his list, having season tickets to their home games for many years. In fact, Ray attended all eight Super Bowls in which the Steelers participated. He also watched the Penguins regularly on television.
“His son, during the funeral service, said he could always count on a call about a half an hour before the next Pittsburgh Penguins hockey game to make sure that he knew how to access the right channel on his cable package,” David said. “Andrew went on to say that he realized the call was maybe a little bit about the Penguins but more just checking in with his son to see how his son is doing in life and work.
“He was very, very devoted to his family to the point of initiating telephone calls on a regular basis to them to check in with them.”
Ray was also a fan of basketball, having coached youth teams and played in adult leagues that competed in the gym in the basement of the Beaver Falls Church.
“When you played for Ray, it was all about fundamentals,” Larry, a former player, recalled. “It wasn’t about winning, it was about the fundamentals of the game. He didn’t have any kids playing on that team, so he devoted all of his free time teaching us how to play basketball. It was still a Christian-backed instruction: good sportsmanship and having fun. It wasn’t all about winning. It was all Christian-based.”
“He would say because of that gymnasium he really came to the faith through a neighbor who invited his family to worship at the Presbyterian church,” David said. “He was involved in Sunday school but also some of the athletic opportunities the church was providing. The church was his social life, some of his athletic life was there, and the friendships he formed with people as well as the person he ended up marrying he met through the church.”
That connection to the church was never more evident than when, in 1971, his daughter was baptized during a Synod meeting at Grove City College. It was a further testament to his commitment to the church.
“It was the end of his term of being the moderator of the Synod of Pennsylvania, so he was heavily involved and he had this new child,” David said. “It points to his devotedness to the larger church. Often a baptism would occur in your local congregation, but he and his wife thought that that might be a good thing to do – to honor the larger church as well as have their new daughter baptized.”
This was who Ray Way was. He was someone who was committed to his family, his church, his business and athletics. It made him special and makes his loss immeasurable.
“It was his long-term commitment to Christ and the larger church that made him particularly unique,” David said. “He was a presence in the church that will create a large empty spot.”
“The Bible says everything that comes out of the heart is exemplified by your speech and your actions,” Larry said. “Everything that came out of Ray’s heart was the same way. Everything he did, everything he spoke of was of Christianity, his love for God, his love for the church. If you didn’t know him, within five minutes you would know what Ray was all about. Everything came from his heart.
“Everything he did reflected his Christianity. One thing that really impressed me was his love for the church. I think he impacted everybody’s life in the whole church. It’s a great loss for the church, the community and his family. Everybody loved Ray.”
The Synod of the Trinity is thankful for Ray’s work and service to the region and sends condolences to his family and friends.