Ray Ryan Easley

On Saturday, July 31, 2021, Ray Ryan Easley, loving husband, father, brother, uncle and grandfather, passed away at the age of 70. In 1951, in Altus, Oklahoma, Ray was born to Gordon and Ernesteen Easley. He was the sixth of ten children, one of five brothers. Ray graduated valedictorian from Alma High School (Ark.), and completed degrees at Covenant Foundation College (Ind.) and Anderson University (Ind.), followed by a doctoral degree from the University of Arkansas. During a four-decade career, Ray invested in thousands of students in both undergraduate and graduate settings: as adjunct faculty at numerous institutions, in senior leadership of Covenant Foundation College and Wesley Biblical Seminary (Miss.). He invested years into developing programs for West Africa Theological Seminary (Lagos, Nigeria). Most recently, Ray was Dean of the Schools of Education & Leadership of Emmaus University (Haiti). For forty years, Ray impacted countless students from many nations, inspiring and equipping them in their unique calling to Kingdom building. Ray was the embodiment of the teacher who touched a thousand lives. In addition to his own calling to academics, Ray spent much of his life in the global ministry of Jesus Christ, frequenting countries like Nigeria, India, Belize and Haiti. An ordained minister, he has served as pastor, church planter, Bible teacher, and, until his death, as an Elder of Brandywine Community Church, and was actively teaching in children's ministry with the same congregation. Ray was a life-long learner with a hunger for understanding the world around him. Over the course of his life, Ray acquired a wide range of proficiencies, many of them self-taught: architectural design and drafting, carpentry, stock trading, classical violin, furniture-making, beekeeping, farming and surveying, to name a few. As a husband, father to his three children, and PaPaw to his eleven grandchildren, he poured his life and love into his family and to those that God brought his way. He sacrificed without thought for himself, loved without condition, and leaves behind a legacy of unparalleled faithfulness. Ray's greatest ambition, however, was simply to walk with God each day. Since the days of his youth, Ray gave witness to the love and goodness of Jesus Christ, who Ray knew personally, intimately, and deeply. He was a man of extraordinary strength of character, of humility and gentleness, of understated - even mischievous - humor and wit. He was, like so many who walked before him, a "friend of God." He was preceded in death by his parents; a sister (Linda Mason); a brother (Carlton Easley); and a newborn son. Celebrating his life today are his beloved family: Dianne, his wife of nearly fifty years; his son Bryan (Leslie) Easley of Aiken, S.C., and children Jacob, Benjamin, Sarah, Elizabeth and Hannah; his son Bradley (Meghann) Easley of Wilmore, Ky., and children Emma, Josanna, Cohen and Charlotte; his daughter Kerry (David) Brooks of Orlando, Fla. and children Sophia and Ilyana. Ray will also be deeply missed by his siblings: Donnie Pirtle of Polocola, Okla.; Pallie (Darrell) Ezell of Mulberry, Ark.; Keith Easley of Bethlehem, Pa.; Paul (Cindy) Easley of Muncie, Ind.; Esther (Paul) Peak of Roanoke, Va.; David (Joy) Easley of Forsythe, Mo.; and Rachel (Philip) Going of Greenfield, Ind., and countless nephews and nieces who loved him greatly. A celebration service honoring Ray's life will be held at Brandywine Community Church in Greenfield, Indiana, on August 4, 2021, at 10 o'clock in the morning.