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Ray Ozzie Oswald Passes

April 11, 2018

Lancaster. PA - - Ray Ozzie Oswald  Passes


Ray H. Ozzie Oswald, 84, of Lancaster, died unexpectedly at Lancaster General Hospital on April 8, 2018. Born in Kutztown on June 2, 1933, Ray was the son of Herman and Edna Sensenderfer Oswald and was married to Carol Young Oswald for 51 years.

Ray graduated from Kutztown Area High School, where he lettered in soccer, basketball, and baseball. He was All-State Honorable Mention for basketball in 1951, and won three county, two district, and two state basketball championships with his team. Following graduation, Ray enlisted in the U.S. Army, serving in the Postal Unit Reserves. His enlistment was transferred into the U.S. Navy, where he served overseas during the Korean War as a Signalman and Quartermaster Third Class QM3 on the destroyer USS Preston. He was honorably discharged in 1956.

After Ray returned home, he played fast pitch softball in the County Fireman's League. He moved to Lancaster in 1966 and began playing softball in the Lancaster Rec League, which was considered one of the best leagues in the country. He started and coached the Yingst Auto Sales fast pitch softball team, which won state and regional titles and finished third at nationals. He managed and helped coach the York Barbell AA team to four straight national AA tournament titles and four regional titles. He was assistant coach when York Barbell merged with the Reading Sunners.

Ray coached the women's Diplomats softball team at Franklin and Marshall College from 1984 to 1993, leading the 1989-90 team to the Middle Atlantic Conference championship. His record as the winningest softball coach in FandM history was only recently broken in 2016. Many of Ray's players still keep in touch with him.

Ray also was the general manager and coach of the Lancaster Storm semi-professional basketball team, which won two championships in three years. He coached CYO boy's basketball at St. Joseph's Catholic School, was president of the men's open class fast pitch softball league for 7 years, umpired for 25 years, ran the adult men's and women's winter and summer basketball programs for the Lancaster Recreation Commission for 31 years, and refereed basketball.

Ray has been inducted into the American Softball Association Hall of Fame, Lancaster Fast Pitch Hall of Fame, Susquehanna Valley Chapter of the PA Sports Hall of Fame, and Kutztown Area High School Athletic Hall of Fame, and was a winner of the Bing Conlin Award for Softball. His Kutztown High School '50 – '51 basketball team was inducted into the Berks County Chapter of the PA Hall of Fame.

Professionally, Ray worked in sales for many years and is a past president of the Fleetwood chapter of the Jaycees. He retired from the Manheim Auto Auction, where he was Director of Public Relations, and continued to work part-time in the auto auction business for some time after retirement. He was an avid follower of sprint car racing, Penn State football; the Philadelphia Eagles, Phillies, and 76ers; Villanova Men's basketball; and Lancaster Catholic High School basketball. It was a great year for Ray as a fan!

In addition to his wife, Ray is survived by a sister, Helen Cartwright; two daughters, Kimberly (Joe) Donaldson and Wendy (Mike) Woytovich; daughters-in-law, Melissa and Kathy Oswald; grandchildren, Caeli, Max, Olivia, Evan, Ed, Alexis, Derek, Abbey, Amanda, and Courtney; numerous nieces and nephews; and four great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents and two sons, Edward D. and Jason R. Oswald, as well as two brothers, four sisters, two grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.

If heaven is what we love most, Ray is now shooting baskets with Ed and Jason while Rollie Massimino shouts encouragement from the sidelines.

A celebration of Ray's life will be held Saturday, April 14, 2018, at 11 AM at St. Peter's Lutheran Church, 10 Delp Rd., Lancaster, PA. It will be a time of sharing, so please come with a good story that's suitable to share in a church! Visitation with the family will take place from 9:30 – 11 AM at the church. In lieu of flowers, please send contributions to the Ray Oswald Scholarship Fund, Lancaster Catholic High School, 650 Juliette Ave, Lancaster, PA 17601, or Share of Lancaster, 414 E King St, Lancaster, PA 17602, in memory of Ray's grandson, Reed Donaldson. To send an online condolence, please visit SnyderFuneralHome.com

 
 
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