In Memory

Ray Beck Warnick

Ray Beck Warnick


 

Ray Beck Warnick

September 7, 1944 ~ December 19, 1970


                       


The following is a complilation of information from various sources, including Ray's obituary in the Ogden Standard Examiner:


NORTH OGDEN and LOGAN, Utah -                                                      

Joint funeral services for Ray Beck Warnick, 26, and his 3-month-old daughter, Robyn Warnick, of Utah State Tranquility Trailer Village in Logan, Utah were conducted Wednesday, December 23 at 12 Noon in the LDS North Ogden 3rd Ward Chapel, 606 E 2050 N. 

Both Ray and Robyn were killed in an automobile accident which occurred on Saturday, December 19, 1970.  Details about this tragic event, in which his wife was also hospitalized and his other daughter, Michelle, suffered severe injuries, have been brought to the Class In Memory Project's attention and are described below.  

Friends were invited call at the Harold B. Felt Funeral Home in Brigham City Tuesday, December 22 from 7 to 9 PM and at the Ward Chapel in North Ogden Wednesday from 10:00 AM until services.

Burial was in the North Ogden (Ben Lomond) Cemetery. The Committee has received these grave site photos:

 

             

 

Mr. Warnick was born September 7, 1944 in Vernal, Utah, a son of Francis Marion and Loal Beck Warnick.  A former resident of North Ogden, as a boy he attended school in Vernal, Utah; Gunnison, Colorado and North Ogden.

 

Ray in Wahlquist Jr. High "Tumbleweed" yearbook, 9th Grade, 1958-59

Ray graduated from Weber High School in Ogden in 1962. He later served an LDS Mission from 1964 to 1966 in Uruguay, South America. After completing his mission, he married Myrna Coirolo on September 18, 1967 in the Logan LDS Temple.  Ray also served in the 222nd Field Artillery Unit of the National Guard.

At the time of the accident he was attending Utah State University and also employed at the Tri-Miller Meat Company in Hyrum while attending school.  As a classmate has commented before this page was posted, he was near graduation and already investigating post-college job opportunities. We believe he was majoring in Finance and planned to seek a career in banking.

Ray was a consummate horse person and a member of the "North Ogden Riders." While most of his friends either rode bikes or walked to get somewhere in their early teens, Ray would ride his horse, Snookes, a Strawberry Roan quarter horse. He is remembered as a generally publicly quiet person, but also as an intelligent, fun-loving guy, a loyal friend, good son and a young man who adored his growing family.

Ray was survived by his wife and one daughter, Michelle Warnick, Logan; his parents in Boulder City, Nevada; His grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph F. Beck, Ogden,Utah; three sisters, Mrs. David (Bonnie) Badger, Nampa, Idaho; Mrs. Jim (Selma) Ficklin, Grand Junction, Colorado; Miss Christine Warnick, Logan.

The family's infant daughter, Robyn Warnick was born Sept. 13, 1970


Details of the tragic accident:

According to Classmate Darol Wintle, a close friend of Ray's, and with further subsequent details from an article since received from the Box Elder News and Journal of December 24, 1970, the accident happened near Maddox's Restaurant just south of Brigham City in Perry, Utah on US highway 89-91 during the afternoon.  

The vehicle which set off the chain of events, in which at least four vehicles were eventually involved, was said to have pulled out of Nielson's Fruit Stand across the street, moving slowly and changing lanes erratically, and the woman driving in the north-bound lane, Shauna Harvey, 28, of Salt Lake City, didn't see it until the last minute.  

As she swerved to avoid a collision, she entered the south-bound lane that Ray and his whole family were traveling in. After grazing another car, her car crashed directly into the Becks' 1968 red Chevy Corvair - instantly killing Ray and Robyn.  Ms. Harvey died shortly after being taken by ambulance to McKay Hospital in Ogden.  Another car entering the accident scene was also unable to stop and was damaged, but none of the occupants in this car or the first struck were injured.

The collision also threw Myrna, who had her baby on her lap, forward against the dashboard and in the impact, three month old Robyn was crushed.  

Michelle, aged 2, was thrown from the back seat into the windshield.  She was in critical condition, and while she survived, the event left her with a degree of permanent paralysis on her right side. Mynra was hospitalized in serious condition but (to our knowledge) eventually mostly recovered from her physical injuries.


Ray's Obituary from the Ogden Standard Examiner:  


From the Box Elder News and Journal, December 24, 1970:

 


The Committee wishes to thank Classmates Earl Henstra, James Keller, Darol Wintle and Richard Crawford for their assistance in the research and preparation of this page.  The Class also thanks the Weber County Library and the Box Elder News Journal for providing us with Ray's obituary and a news account of the accident, respectively.  Page posted 6/21/2012.


                                                                     



 
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12/13/11 01:21 PM #1    

Darol Wintle

My best pal Ray was killed in an auto mobile accident on his way to visit me in 1970.  His two month old daughter and the driver of the car that crossed over the median were also killed.  Ray was just graduating from Utah State and I had a potential job offer to talk with him about.   I have put flowers on his grave in North Ogden for these 40 plus years and always remember the great friendship that we shared.   It's been a very sad memory to realize all of things that have been missed by Ray and those around him, including his wife Myrna and their two year old daughter who both survived.  Life is precious and can change in the twingling of an eye.  We should love and appreciate every moment we are given.   Darol Wintle


08/14/12 12:40 PM #2    

Darol Wintle

I have talked with Ray's sister Bonnie, his blind 95 yr old father and his wife Myna in the last month.  All apprecited the in memory site and wished to express their appreciation for the effort put forth in honoring Ray.  We remembered the good old days when Ray was at Weber High.  I apologized to Mr. Warnick for stealing Ray out of his bedroom window to go with us on graduation night, and he laughed.   I was very honored to put Ray's rose in the vase at the reunion evening.  There are no accidents that I came up at that time when his name was read.  I missed Ray at the reunion very much.    Darol Wintle 8-14-2012


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