Hugh Raymond "Butch" Hamilton, 81, son of Helen Macan Hamilton and historic Strawberry Hill, peacefully passed away on August 23rd, 2019.

      Ray was born on February 5th, 1938 and grew up the only child of Helen.  It took a village to help Helen raise her son; five of Helen’s sisters and her parents, Mary Helen and Philip, were all early influences on Ray.  He grew up in the shadows of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church where he attended grade school and worked in the church basement bowling alley setting up pins and running nickel pitchers of beer to the neighborhood bowlers.

        Ray attended De LaSalle High School where he played football, participated in their ROTC program and one imagines generally testing the patience of the Christian Brothers who operated the school.  During his school years, Ray held various part-time jobs, including driving a delivery truck for Pitko’s Grocery with sometimes exciting results that must have tested the patience of Mr. Pitko.

        On February 4th, 1956, at the tender age of what the next day would be his eighteenth birthday, Ray married the love of his life, Joan Carola Lathrop.  For the next couple of years, Ray worked as a Manor Bread delivery driver, a cement truck driver and a doorman at the Hotel Muehlebach.  In 1958, Ray became a plumber’s apprentice and started a career that saw him become a master plumber working on some of the largest commercial projects in Kansas City.   He was also a successful businessman who owned and operated Hamilton Plumbing and Southside Plumbing before retiring in 2000.

        Successful as he was at work, Ray was even better as a father.  He and Joan raised their seven children to be loving and independent, each brilliant in their own right.  Ray quickly gained a reputation as the Vince Lombardi of CYO football and the Whitey Herzog of youth baseball.  It was at the Lake of the Ozarks, though, that Ray truly shined as a father and grandfather.  Many of the family’s fondest memories are found at the Lake, Ray and Joan’s home away from home.

        Ray loved his family, he loved the Lake, but more importantly, he loved his God.  In his own quiet way, Ray carried a deep faith in God.  He and Joan made daily mass an important part of their life.  Ray’s greatest legacy is his deep faith in God, his abiding love for Joan and an infectious laugh that brought joy to all who were fortunate to know him.

        Ray, an only child, whose family meant everything to him, is survived by Joan, his wife of sixty-three years, and children Joe and Amanda Hamilton, Jim and Katie Hamilton, Mary and Tom Bickimer, Bob and Teresa Hamilton, Jenny and Troy Wallace, Joanie and Tom Sheeley and Anne and Ken Pilsl.  Forty-five grandchildren and forty-five and counting great-grandchildren call him “Grandpa.”  God speed, Ray.  Your holy work is complete. 

        On Thursday, August 29th, Rosary will be prayed at 8:45 AM, with the visitation from 9am to 10am followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at 10 am at Church of the Ascension, 9510 W. 127th St., O.P, KS 66213.

        In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to Giving the Basics or Catholic Community Hospice.