Raymond Castro
Raymond Castro
Raymond Castro
Raymond Castro
Raymond Castro
Raymond Castro

Obituary of Raymond Castro

Castro, Raymond "Ray" 68, of Madeira Beach died early Saturday morning, October 9th, 2010, at Northside Hospital. Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Ray's mother moved to New York City when Ray was 5 years old. He moved to Selden, Long Island in the early 70's and later moved to Sayville, New York. In 1989, he relocated to Madeira Beach, FL. Ray was a Cake Designer/Baker for Publix since 1989. Although he was retired from full time, he still continued to work for Publix part time. Raymond loved to decorate cakes, he was very proud of his craft and enjoyed his fellow employees and the customers. He took a personal interest in the families that ordered cakes for weddings and special occasions. Ray loved to travel, go to the flea market and thrift shops, he was always looking(shopping) for things for his friends and family. Once he found out that someone collected something, he would search until he found something at that specialdeal. Ray was always there to help out his friends and family. He was such a generous soul, all you had to do was mention you needed something and he was on the hunt for it. Ray had an infectious sense of humor, he was the "life of the party". He loved to make people laugh and would play jokes on his fellow workers. He was the "king" of the neighborhood, and made sure that he introduced himself to every neighbor. His garage was like a hardware store, when someone needed to borrow a tool or some odd object, they would visit his garage. Many people were not aware until just recently that Ray was the first person arrested at the Stonewall Inn in New York City in 1969, this sparked the gay riots that led to the revolution for gay rights. About 10 years ago, Ray was contacted by historian author David Carter regarding a book that he was writing about the Stonewall riots. David Carter was contacted by an acquaintance Ray had met on a gay cruise. David Carter interviewed Ray for the book, in 2004; "Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked The Gay Revolution" was published. Ray was contacted by David Carter about two years ago because they were filming a documentary based on the book. Ray was flown up to New York and placed in a hotel close to the Stonewall Inn. He was interviewed for the film and advised they would contact him when the film would be released. The film premiered in London, on March 17th 2010. Ray attended the showing of the film at the Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival on April 27th, 2010. He participated in a Q & A session afterwards. On the weekend of June 28th, the anniversary of the Stonewall Inn raid, Ray attended the NYC Gay Pride parade in front of the Stonewall Inn. The police officers allowed him inside the parade barricade as he watched the entire 6 hour long parade and took many photos. He also attended the films NYC premier and participated in a Q & A. The raid on the Stonewall Inn, in 1969 resulted in the first Gay Pride March of 1970. Ray was extremely proud of his role in Stonewall and so very happy that he was able to participate in these events in the last year of his life. When Ray was diagnosed with stomach cancer he was given only 4 months to live and advised that chemotherapy would not help. He refused to believe this and waged a war on this disease never compromising his normal way of life. While going through chemotherapy or radiation, he never once complained. No matter how sick he felt, he continued to work and live. He fought hard and survived an additional 2 full years past the 4 months. During the past two years he was able to go on a European cruise, two Caribbean Cruises, that included visiting his Aunt(s) in Puerto Rico and NYC. Traveling and participating in the Stonewall events above. His last two years were rich. His oncology doctor said he had such a positive attitude during his visits for treatments and was one of the best patients he ever had. Ray is survived by his spouse of 31 years; Frank "Frankie" Sturniolo, Yvonne Castillo; his sister, Wayne Gonzalez; his brother. As well as his sister-in-law, brother-in-law and many aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews from both sides of the family. He would want to include many of his close friends as survivors of his family as well. He will be missed by all. The following are some links to websites and stories of Mr. Castro signify the importance of the part he played in the gay rights movement. http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/10/14/2010-10-14_ray_castro_key_player_in_stonewall_riots_and_gay_rights_pioneer_dead_at_68.html http://www.365gay.com/news/ray-castro-1969-stonewall-rebellion-vet-dies-at-68/ http://www.towleroad.com/2010/10/stonewall-veteran-raymond-castro-dies-at-68.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+towleroad/feed+%28Towleroad+Daily++%23gay+news%29 http://www.connexion.org/gay-news/news?id=782213 http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2010/10/stonewall-veteran-ray-castro-dies-at-68.html http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31527418/ns/us_news-life/
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Visitation

OCT 17. 12:00 PM - 03:00 PM Reese Funeral Home 6767 Seminole Boulevard Seminole, FL, US, 33772 info@reesefuneral.com http://www.reesefuneral.com

Visitation

OCT 17. 05:00 PM - 08:00 PM Reese Funeral Home 6767 Seminole Boulevard Seminole, FL, US, 33772 info@reesefuneral.com http://www.reesefuneral.com
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