Obituary of Albert Ray Oliver

Services will be held at 11AM Thursday July 27th in the Aspen Mortuary and Funeral Home Chapel, 1350 Simms St., Lakewood, Colorado 80401 for Albert Ray Oliver of Lakewood, Colorado who passed away Friday, May 28, 2023.

Albert Ray Oliver was born August 15, 1934, in Potter County, Texas to Thelma Goad Oliver and Berthel C. "Bert" Oliver, who preceded him in death along with brothers Charles, Wayne, and twin brother Elbert Roy Oliver, who all grew up in Amarillo, Texas. He graduated from Amarillo High School in 1952, followed by serving in the United States Navy for 4 years active duty, then 10 years in the Naval Reserve.

During his enlistment, he graduated from the United States Naval Training Center in San Diego, California as an Electrician Mate Class “A”, where he received a letter of commendation for highest marks in the class, a letter of commendation for performance of duty for voluntarily acting as Assistant Instructor to the Night School Supervisor assisting classmates, and finally, was selected as the Honor Man of his large class. He went on to complete several more levels of Navy Department training, including in-class and correspondence school classes, for Petty Officer, Electrician’s Mate 3, Electrician’s Mate 2, and Electrician’s Mate 1.

He was stationed on several ships as an Electrician’s Mate, with his most fondly remembered being the USS St. Paul CA-73 in Keelung, Formosa, and the USS Buck DD-761 in Yokosuka, Japan.

Following his service, he attended school at Amarillo College, then went to work for the Amarillo National Bank where he met his wife, Donna Jean Rhodes. They were married on June 20, 1958. Donna preceded him in Death on May 3, 2020, as did their first son, Bryan Mark Oliver on Jun 25, 2009. He is survived by his son Eric Paul Oliver of Westminster, Colorado, daughter Marjorie Ann Oliver of Bailey, Colorado, grandson Nicholas Patrick Baldessari of Lakewood, Colorado, and great granddaughters Inara and Cassiel.

He also attended school at Texas Tech University, and the University of Colorado Denver for Electrical Engineering, worked at Citizen’s National Bank in Lubbock, and the City of Amarillo before moving the family to Colorado where he worked for Western Electric, which became AT&T Technologies/Lucent Technologies. He received several Achievement Awards while working for them in Aurora, Colorado and in Atlanta, Georgia, before retiring to move back to Colorado. Back in Colorado, he enjoyed participating in Veteran’s activities, meeting friends for lunch, working on the family condo work annual work weekend, and going for the annual family vacation; he loved the mountains, fishing, family activities, reading, and especially enjoyed getting into “trouble” with his great granddaughters.

The family kindly suggests a donation to a Veteran’s organization of your choice in lieu of floral arrangements.