Cover photo for Raymond M Woodfield's Obituary
Raymond M Woodfield Profile Photo

Raymond M Woodfield

October 14, 1929 — July 9, 2022

Princeton, NJ

We mourn the loss of Raymond Woodfield (Uncle Ray to many and Woody to some) who was born in Lakewood NJ in 1929, spent most of his life in Rockland County NY and died in his home in Princeton NJ surrounded by a family full of love. Ray had a very productive life. He joined the military at a young age and served his country in the Army and in the Reserves. He attended college on the GI bill and pursued a degree in engineering. Ultimately, he became a construction engineer and worked on many high- profile projects. Ray had a long career in the engineering field which included overseeing bridge and road construction in NY, NJ and PA. He began his career working on the original Tappan Zee Bridge. He then went on to work on the Thruway and the Berkshire Spur, the Worlds Fair in Queens, the Robert Moses State Park, the Saw Mill River Parkway, and the Queens Zoo to name a few. Ray also worked on route 9A near the World Trade Center. He witnessed and survived the fall of the towers and ran through the dust cloud to safety. He then worked on the reconstruction of 9A for many years after.

When he retired, he took up ping pong and made many very close friendships at the Princeton Senior
Resource Center where ping pong was a very lively activity three days each week. Ray and his partner
received a number of gold medals at the Senior Olympics of NJ. Ray was also an avid bike rider and rode
more than 10 miles two to three times per week until he was 90 and biked 22 miles just before his
cancer diagnosis. He lived his life to the fullest relishing every day and, with the help of his doctor,
valiantly battled leukemia for 20 months.

Ray had some very close friendships during his lifetime. In his early years he had many escapades with a
group of good friends which included his brother Charlie and Fred Mills. He loved to tell stories about
his escapades with his friends and many family members got some great laughs from hearing him tell
these stories. Ray was also well known for his ability to whistle. He whistled in the morning when he
woke up and many times during the day. His beautiful whistle was a remarkable memory for many
people over the years.

Ray is pre-deceased by his wife and square dancing partner Margaret (Peggy) Haldeman and survived by
his daughters Karen Woodfield (Angus Eaton) and Kathleen Woodfield (Alfred Gibbs) and his two
stepsons Edward Dobkowski (Georgia Glovatsky) and Arul Karttikeya. He leaves behind four very sad
grandchildren, Dylan Gibbs and Tina, Juanita and Sara Eaton, many nephews, nieces, and cousins whom
he loved dearly, along with many special friends who were like family to him. He was an honorary
member of the Eaton, Kafka, Reggio and Sardar families and enjoyed many meals with each. He touched many
people’s lives with his infectious smile and his twinkling blue eyes. He will be remembered for his love
of life, love of people and love of food (and for all those who cooked for him). He is and will be sorely
missed. Services to celebrate his life will be held in October. For more information contact Kathleen,
Karen, Ed or Karttikeya.

The family requests in lieu of flowers, you can purchase a memorial tree, share a memory or light a memorial candle, or make a donation to the leukemia and lymphoma society LLC.

To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Raymond M Woodfield, please visit our flower store.

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