ZEPHYRHILLS, FL ---- Raymond James Sanborn, 90, passed away peacefully on Monday, September 18, 2023, in Zephyrhills, Florida.
He was born December 1, 1932, the son of Frank Herbert Sanborn and Hazel Jane MacKay Sanborn, of Gilford, NH, where he was raised and helped his parents with their well-known farm stand and apple orchard.
Ray attended Laconia High School, graduating in 1950, and was the first among his family to attend college, graduating from UNH in 1954, where he was a member of the ROTC. In 1954, he fulfilled his ROTC obligation and was commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the US Air Force, graduating pilot and radar controller training in 1956 at Reese AFB in Lubbock, TX. He began active duty in 1957 with the 5th USAF as a radar controller, serving in Korea and Japan, and also with the 13th USAF with duties at the Chinese Air Control Center Taipei during the battle for the islands of Quama and Matso.
In 1958, he was assigned to Mather AFB in Sacramento, CA where he completed flight and navigator radar training. There, he reunited with Carolyn Clark, of Laconia, NH. In 1959, they were married at St. James Episcopal Church in Laconia, and moved to Gilford the next year to start their family. Ray left active duty and joined the Air Force Reserve C119 Squadron at Grenier Field in Manchester, though he was called back to active duty in 1961 during the Bay of Pigs Invasion at Cuba. In 1962, he joined the NH Air National Guard, where he flew international air transport service missions, including to Vietnam, until he retired from the Guard in 1974, with the rank of USAF Major.
Ray taught briefly at Laconia Middle School in the early 1960s, owned a store in downtown Laconia, and sold insurance, before joining Trans World Airlines as a co-pilot flying first the Boeing 707, and later the 727.
He retired as a 727 Captain in 1988, living in Wolfeboro where he and his family operated the Stationery Shop, and he founded Century 21 Dockside Realty. Ray was an avid golfer, having been a member at Kingswood Golf Club in Wolfeboro, Bear’s Paw Country Club in Naples, FL, and Pebble Creek Golf Club in Tampa, FL. After retiring to Florida in the early 1990s, Ray married Anne Territo of Tampa, FL, in 1996, and spent many years helping her with her two grandsons.
He is survived by his first wife, Carolyn Clark Sanborn, their four children, James, Sharon, Eric and John, as well as six grandchildren, his wife Anne and stepchildren Lorraine and Robert Territo, and his sister, Nancy Potter and her family in Gilmanton.
There will be no calling hours.
His remains will be laid to rest alongside his parents Frank and Hazel at Bayside Cemetery, Laconia, NH, on Tuesday, October 24, 2023, at 10:00am.
For those who wish, the family suggests that memorial donations be made in Ray’s name to Easter Seals New Hampshire, 555 Auburn Street, Manchester, NH 03103, any cancer research or support organization, or a charity of your choice.
Wilkinson-Beane-Simoneau-Paquette Funeral Home & Cremation Services/603Cremations.com, 164 Pleasant St., Laconia, NH, 03246, is assisting the family with arrangements. For more information and to view an online memorial, please visit wilkinsonbeane.com.