Raymond Buday Obituary

Raymond Paul

Buday

June 29, 1931

August 16, 2021



Raymond Paul Buday of Colorado Springs, Colorado, departed this life peacefully on August 16th, 2021. Known in our nation's air traffic control towers as "CHOOCH", and by his daughter since the time she was four as "Mucha", Ray was a first generation American, born on June 29, 1931, to John and Katherine, proud Slovak/Americans in Blue Island, Illinois.



In his youth, Ray was devoted to faith and country serving as an altar boy at Saint Benedict's Catholic Church in Blue Island and in the Boy Scouts. In the family's victory garden, Ray would raise and lower the Stars and Stripes every day with all the commitment to detail of a precision Honor Guard.



Ray left his mark as a train controller in the Chicago Loop, served with honor as an air traffic controller in the Korean War, and kept the skies safe with the Federal Aviation Administration in El Paso, Texas and Colorado Springs, Colorado. An artist since he was a young boy, Ray created countless pieces of fine art in watercolor and oil in his lifetime, and his art graced many galleries in Texas and Colorado including his favorite, Arati Artists Gallery in Old Colorado City.



In December of 1967 he married Marie Joan Quigley, who by all family accounts was "too good to be true". Following their first fight over how to place tinsel on their Christmas tree, they persevered to build a beautiful life together for 53 years along with their children Evelyn and Paul, and two granddaughters, Cassidy, and Madison.



Ray survived wars, tornados, family camping trips, wildfires, cancer, a stroke, and the summer his daughter was 16. He earned the title of "Best Family Chef" across three separate families of Budays, Summers, and Wrights, and he was a devoted reader of the daily comics in the newspaper.



…and through it all, Ray lived his life with faith and a love of family, a sense of humor, and near constant whistling. Whether you were his best friend, a complete stranger, or the priest at Sunday Mass, Ray was famous for greeting you with a twinkle in his eye and the line: "Glad you could see me today!"



Ray was preceded in death by his parents, John and Katherine and his siblings, twins Stephen and Joseph, Johnny, Helen, Margaret, and Irene.



Services are scheduled for 10:00am Tuesday, August 24, 2001, at Holy Rosery Chapel, 4435 Holiday Trail in Cascade, Colorado.



In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be sent to Canine Companions® and its partnership with the Wounded Warrior Project® at https://p2p.onecause.com/veterans-donate, and as always, support your local artists who, with their talents, make the world a more beautiful place.