In loving memory of Ray Landes: 1935-2026

It is with deep sorrow that we announce the passing of Ray Allen Landes, who left us on Oct. 8, 2026, at the age of 90. Ray was a beloved husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, brother-in-law, uncle, educator, colleague and friend. He touched countless lives with his kindness, generosity, love, humor, wisdom and with his lifelong commitment to education and volunteer community leadership.

Ray was born on Dec. 26, 1935, in Chehalis, Washington, to Ted Eldred Landes and Emma Theresa (Jordan) Landes of Swofford, near the town of Mossyrock. He grew up in the Jordan homestead farmhouse, which Emma had inherited from her parents and purchased from her sisters. Sulfur Creek ran right through the family farm, and it was there that his mother taught him to fish at a young age using a bent sewing needle and thread — a pastime he loved throughout his childhood and enjoyed his whole life. He also loved playing baseball with the neighbor boys. As the only son of a logger and farmer, Ray was no stranger to hard work and helped his parents on the farm throughout his childhood.

A gifted athlete, Ray competed on Mossyrock High School’s varsity basketball and baseball teams. He was the starting 2nd baseman for the Mossyrock baseball team that won back-to-back Lewis County League Championships in 1953 and 1954, his junior and senior years. The 1954 team capped its championship season with an undefeated record of 24 wins and 0 losses.

Ray’s people skills, even-keeled demeanor and great sense of humor made him a natural leader. Over his lifetime, he served as ASB President of Mossyrock High School, President of the Mossyrock FFA chapter, President of the Farmhouse fraternity at Washington State College (WSC), Council Member of the Associated Students of the College of Agriculture, Company Commander of his Army unit and Founding Board Member of the Viking Scholarship Fund Committee. In 1954, as FFA President during his senior year, Ray helped the Mossyrock chapter earn the State Silver Emblem award, which recognized the top 8 FFA chapters statewide for their achievements in agricultural education, community service and leadership development. Ray was also a 70-year member of the Mossyrock Grange supporting rural family farming communities.

After graduating from Mossyrock High School in 1954, Ray attended Washington State College (became WSU), where he majored in agriculture and accepted a commission in the Army through the WSC Army ROTC program. It was at WSC that he met his future wife, Betty Schreiber, when he taught her how to milk a cow so she could compete in the College of Agriculture’s Agriculture Sciences Fair Queen contest. After earning his bachelor’s degree, Ray was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Army’s 10th Infantry Regiment — the same unit in which his great-grandfather, C.T. Landes, had served for the North during the Civil War. His unit was stationed at the Hunter Liggett Military Reservation in California, working on combat development and experimental systems, where they tested the Army’s first shoulder-mounted heat-seeking missiles. Ray served 2 years of active duty, including a tour in the Vietnam War during which he was stationed in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos and led a company of more than 100 men as their Company Commander. Like many of his generation, he was deeply proud of his military service but rarely spoke about it.

After completing his active-duty service at the rank of Captain, Ray returned home to marry Betty. The couple moved to Kittitas, Washington, where they started their family and lived for 4 years before returning to Mossyrock. Ray also served 8 years in the Army Reserve immediately after leaving active duty.

Ray was a gregarious man, a dedicated provider, a devoted family man and a skilled educator of young people. He was especially known for his dedication to the students and families of the Mossyrock School District, where he served for 31 years as a 6th grade teacher, with brief periods teaching high school physics, agriculture and ag shop early in his career.

Throughout his career, Ray embodied the traits of a great teacher. First and foremost, he cared about his students, and it showed. He ignited a passion for learning, encouraged students when they struggled, gave them the confidence to try and master new things, and inspired them to achieve. His teaching and mentoring left a lasting impact on over a thousand young men and women he taught at Mossyrock, as evidenced by the many Facebook posts, phone calls, letters and visits from former students long after he had stopped teaching. One former student, writing 30 years after sitting in Ray’s 6th grade classroom, shared: “He (Mr. Landes) was the first teacher who fully believed in me. I was really struggling in school up to that point, and his approach and the confidence it gave me really changed the trajectory of my life.”

That was his approach with every student: meet them where they were — academically, emotionally and socially — listen to their story, discover what interested them, and then inspire, encourage and hold them accountable to excel. Looking back on his career, he was most proud of making a difference in the lives of his students. He was beloved by students and fellow faculty alike for his commitment to excellence and the way he valued people, all with a great sense of humor and humility. In addition to his care for students, one of the other signature features of Ray Landes’s 6th grade classroom was his focus on teaching science to kids through engaging hands-on science demonstrations and experiments. He understood that making science interesting and cool was the key to students actual liking and learning science. His classes made model rockets and fired them off every year, something he repeated with his grandchildren (two of which [Ben & Jon] became professional rocket scientists at Blue Origin and Stoke Space). He acquired and maintained a large collection of science experiments like a model sized working steam locomotive. His students also learned how to build electric motors and dozens of other experiments each year. This made science fun and made him the favorite teacher of many students.

Alongside his career in education, Ray had a second, parallel career as a logger, rancher and farmer. Born during the Great Depression, he had a work ethic deeply shaped by his family’s experiences and the financial insecurity of the times, and he was driven to provide a secure financial future for his family.

He and his father, Ted, started with approximately 20 acres of cleared, farmable ground on their new property in Cinebar. Season after season, they logged and cleared the land, eventually creating more than 130 acres of farmable ground. Along the way, they raised beef cattle and grew hay, grain and silage to feed them. By the late 1970s, Ray had converted the entire farm into a successful Christmas tree farm in partnership with his childhood friend, Glenn Aldrich.

In his personal life, Ray had a wide range of hobbies and interests. He and Betty shared a love of plants and gardening. Ray always kept a large vegetable garden, fruit trees, a rose garden and their famous Cascade Berry patch, and their home was adorned with an amazing collection of trees, plants and rhododendrons that rivaled many formal gardens when in bloom. He simply loved being outdoors on his farm. Ray had a passion for history. He was extremely well-read in world and national history and was a fountain of knowledge about local Mossyrock and Lewis County history. His relatable, down-to-earth, easygoing nature, his life experiences and his love of history made him a great conversationalist and storyteller, and people loved their conversations with him. Ray and Betty traveled extensively around the United States and the world, on family vacations and with friends, eventually visiting all 7 continents — including Antarctica, where they spent a night sleeping on the ice. Wherever they went, they sought out small tours with in-country guides who took them behind the scenes to learn the history and culture of each place they visited.

Among his favorite family memories were the annual summer trips to Cannon Beach with all his kids and grandkids, along with family gatherings every Thanksgiving and Christmas. These cherished moments brought immense joy to his life and will be fondly remembered by all who shared them with him. Ray had a strong Christian faith and called Jesus his Lord and Savior. His faith was a guiding force in his convictions and character, and it was evident in how he lived his life as a husband, father, grandfather and teacher. Ray and Betty were married for 64 years; Betty preceded him in death on April 17, 2025. Ray is survived by his children, Craig Landes, Ross Landes and Andrea Wick, and their spouses; his 8 grandchildren; and 2 great-grandchildren and his brother-in-law and his wife, Don and Pam Schreiber. He will be dearly missed by his family, friends and all who knew him.

The family will hold a private burial service at the Swofford Cemetery, and a public memorial service will be held at a later to be determined date. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Viking Scholarship Fund to establish a memorial scholarship in honor of Ray and Betty Landes. Ray was one of the founding members of Mossyrock’s Viking Scholarship Fund, started in 1982, and served as a board member and officer of the Viking Scholarship Committee for 38 years. Through the leadership of Ray and his fellow founding members, and the continued leadership of other like-minded community leaders, the Viking Scholarship Fund has grown over the past 45 years and now awards more than $150,000 in scholarships to Mossyrock graduates each year, including initial awards as well as undergraduate awards for those continuing their education.