Clyde Hosea Ray III

 Clyde Hosea Ray III, 86, of Sylva, passed away peacefully at home on the morning of December 22, 2024. 

 Clyde was born in Waynesville, NC on August 30, 1938, to the late Clyde H. Ray, Jr., businessman, and the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Caroline Pafford Miller.

 Clyde attended Saint John’s Academy in Waynesville prior to graduating from Western Carolina University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1966. He also earned a Master of Arts degree from East Tennessee State University in 1973, and completed doctoral work in history at the University of Tennessee from 1975 until 1978.

 Clyde was first and foremost an educator, and taught school at all levels over the course of several decades. His love of history and the Civil War inspired a large number of students and received several accolades. He spent several years on the faculty of Southwestern Community College and Haywood Community College.

 In addition to teaching, Clyde was also a writer, publishing Across the Dark River: The Odyssey of the 56th N.C. Infantry in the American Civil War (1996), which received the Clark Cox Award for Historical Fiction from the North Carolina Society of Historians in 1997. He is also the author of a forthcoming second novel, A Summons to Dark Hollow.

 Clyde enjoyed spending time with his wife, children, and grandchildren. When not writing or teaching, he could be found sitting on his porch, smoking his tobacco pipe, and enjoying a good book. Among his favorite authors were James Joyce, William Faulkner, and Shakespeare. He also maintained a lifetime interest in genealogy, music (from opera to Scottish bagpipes), film, and the arts generally.

 A longtime parishioner at Saint Mary’s Catholic Church in Sylva, Clyde was a kind and gentle soul, who always took pleasure in a good joke. His memory will be a blessing to his family and friends.

Clyde is survived by his son, Dr. Clyde Ray, IV (Gladys) of South Bend, IN; grandchildren, William Clyde and Ambrose Hosea Ray; and several cousins, nieces, and nephews. He is preceded in death by his wife of nearly forty years, Dorothy Lee Pennington; his parents; and several siblings.

A memorial service will be announced at a later date. For updates, please get in touch with his son, Clyde, at clyderay1@yahoo.com. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations be made in Clyde’s memory to his caregivers at Magnolia Home Health, 1092 Plott Creek Rd., Waynesville, NC 28786.