Raymond J. "Ray" Donovan 1920-2006

DONOVAN, SCHERER, SCHOON, SWEENEY, RICKETTS, FEENEY, SCHMID

Posted By: cheryl moonen (email)
Date: 7/26/2017 at 18:16:02

Telegraph Herald (Dubuque, IA) - June 12, 2006

Raymond J. "Ray" Donovan, 86, of 2204 Suzanne Drive, Dubuque, formerly of Bernard, Iowa, died Saturday, June 10, 2006, at Mercy Medical Center-Dubuque. Services will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Resurrection Catholic Church, Dubuque. Burial will be in St. Patrick's Cemetery, Garryowen, Iowa, where military rites will be accorded by the American Legion Post 528. Friends may call from 2 to 8 p.m. today at Egelhof, Siegert & Casper Westview Funeral Home, 2659 Kennedy Road, Dubuque, where there will be a wake service at 4 p.m.

He was born on May 28, 1920, in Bernard, son of Maurice and Rachel (Shannon) Donovan. Ray Donovan, loving husband of Doris (Dunn) Donovan for 56 years, passed away Saturday morning. Born in Bernard, Iowa, he graduated from Garryowen High School. He was then drafted into the Army at the beginning of World War II. He proudly served with the "Fighting 509" Parachute Infantry Battalion, the most decorated paratroop battalion in the European theater. He was with the first soldiers to ever jump in combat in the history of the Army during the invasion of North Africa. He also made combat jumps in battles in Italy and France. He received the Bronze star for meritorious achievement at the Anzio beachhead in February 1944, and was awarded Purple Heart citations during action in Italy and France, before seeing his last combat in the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium and crossing the Rhine River at the end of the war.

Mr. Donovan opened the Bernard branch of the Maquoketa State Bank, following his return home, and later served as postmaster in Bernard, until his retirement in 1986. Besides devoting his life to his wife and seven children; Ray loved baseball, playing in his youth, helping to reinstate Little League in Bernard following the war, and later coaching the Bernard Indians. He was inducted into the Dubuque County Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003. He was a longtime member of the Bernard Fire Department and was instrumental in the foundation of the department's Rescue Service branch. He also was proud and honored to be a member of the Cascade American Legion, for more than 60 years.

Surviving are his wife, Doris Donovan, of Dubuque; seven children, Robert (Linda) Donovan and William (Peggy) Donovan, both of Dubuque, Luann (J.F.) Scherer, of Cincinnati, Nancy (Cris) Schoon, of Colorado Springs, Colo., Mary (Scott) Sweeney, of Davenport, Iowa, John (Cynthia) Donovan, of Jackson, Tenn., and Ann (Dave) Ricketts, of Solon, Iowa; 12 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren; a brother-in-law, William Feeney, of Scottsdale, Ariz.; and a sister-in-law, Doris Donovan.

He was preceded in death by his parents; four brothers, Gerald, Leo, Wilfred and Alfred; a sister, Ethel Feeney; and a sister-in-law, Eileen Donovan. A Raymond Donovan Memorial Fund has been established. The family would like to thank Resurrection Parish and Dr. Douglas Schmid.