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Raymond Lewis Dudley

On July 13, 2024, Raymond Lewis Dudley was one of those lucky souls to be rooted in a special place. A descendant of one of Guilford’s founding families, Ray identified with and actively contributed to the town throughout his life.

Ray graduated from Guilford High School in 1965, from Drew University in 1969, and obtained his master’s degree in teaching from Brown University in 1970. He was married in 1969 and raised three daughters who also attended schools in Guilford. He taught English at Daniel Hand High School in Madison for 38 years–long enough to teach the children of his earliest students–and retired in 2008. He lived in four locations in Guilford, from North Guilford to State Street to Little Meadow Road, returning full circle to Clapboard Hill in 2000.

From his earliest days, Ray was part of Guilford’s farming community, starting with his family’s gardens on Clapboard Hill, his cousin’s dairy farm, and continuing past retirement into a large garden shared with his brother Mark and volunteering at the Dudley Farm Museum in North Guilford. His closest friends and most enduring interests were always adjacent to gardens and animals, especially his dogs and draft horses. His boyhood introduction to horse pulling at the Guilford Fair on the Green grew throughout his life and culminated in blue ribbons with his own horses in his later years.

Ray’s participation in the civic life of Guilford was deep and long-standing. He helped to found Guilford Recycling, a volunteer group associated with the Guilford Land Trust. While teaching, he served for 20 years on the Conservation Commission and, in retirement, was a long-time Board member of Alder Brook Cemetery. For years, he maintained the grounds of the First Congregational Church on the Green as well as the Dudley Farm Museum, where he also built and maintained their chicken coop. Ray delivered Meals on Wheels and was a member of the Preservation Alliance, the Guilford Keeping Society, the Dorothy Whitfield Historical Society, the Guilford Foundation, the Guilford Agricultural Association, and the Draft Horse Association.

Ray passed away after a cruel struggle with Lewy Body dementia. He is survived by his daughters, Leah Brown Dudley of Branford, Allison Dudley Pelliccio of Guilford, and Ruby Dudley Way of Big Sur, California; their husbands, Jamie, Frank, and Drew; his grandchildren, Indrid, Everly, Willem, Tatum, and Jasper; his brother Mark and sister-in-law Janet of Guilford; and his former wife, Carol Brown of Beaufort, South Carolina.

Friends are invited to calling hours from 4 to 6 p.m. Friday, Aug. 2, at the Guilford Funeral Home, 115 Church Street, Guilford. Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 3, at the First Congregational Church, 100 Broad St, Guilford. Burial will be held privately. The family suggests that donations in lieu of flowers be made to the Ray Dudley Memorial Award, c/o Allison Pelliccio, 88 Tanner Marsh Road, Guilford, to be presented at the Guilford Fair Horse Pull in September.