Whipple Memorial

I took this at Uncle Bill’s funeral. Both Raymond and Dad were really touched that we were able to reach Carl through the obituary and that he honored the family by coming. Their relationship reached back 50 years. It’s not like there are a million photos of Raymond, this is one of the better ones of him in last couple of years. We had a lot of time together between this photo and the one in the post below. All very precious. Click here to see other photos of that day. Clicking on the photo will advance through the slideshow or you can click on the thumbnails above. That is a very tight, wonderful family in those photos, a family we’re all very proud of and Uncle Raymond was such a huge part of the glue that held us all together. Now it’s up to us and our kids in the years to come.

I saw the work Raymond did on the Square Nail from start to finish but this little adobe building that Raymond saved from downtown New Braunfels and moved next to the Square Nail happened in a much shorter time so it was much easier to digest the whole process. I think I slowed him down but I was his assistant, I think I took this picture. The success of this project lead to my belief that Raymond and I could, in fact, buy those houses in Gruene and restore them. But that’s a whole different and looooooong story. The building in this picture was the first newspaper office in New Braunfels and because Raymond saved it, it now stands there in Heritage Plaza and they’re using it as a classroom to teach elementary school kids about Texas heritage. Raymond stopped the bulldozers that were getting ready to tear it down and all these 35 years later he was so happy to see his efforts put to lasting use. Raymond picked up some experience with stucco and abobe when he lived in New Mexico. But I was about Evan’s age, maybe 13, and during these weeks that we were working on this project he laughed that he was learning what to do about five minutes ahead of me. In this picture we’re mixing the mud in trash cans and making bricks to complete that damaged side of the building. We were thrilled (surprised) by how well it turned out.

That’s one problem with traveling alone, it’s hard to get in the picture. These are fisherman in Central America. He had stories of spending weeks with whole families of fisherman, getting out in the water with them and learning how they were living. When he gave people advice later on things to do or not do, I don’t think that everybody, some but not everybody, realized the depth of his experiences.

this is either New Mexico or Old Mexico. I imagine he’s taking the picture and had to walk back away from the road to get the scale of the giant cactus. Raymond loved the desert.

see this volcano near Puebla, Mexico with his good friends J.R. and Lydia. Lydia has family that lives near the base of it. He died not long before they were planning to leave. I saved a little of Raymond’s ashes and I’m going to ask Lydia to take some and put them on this mountain. He was planning for this trip to be his beginning back to doing some traveling.

that don’t know that Raymond has passed away. It’s hard every time it happens, specially depending on how close they were to him. Read the rest of this entry »

We all loved Aunt Jill and Aunt Jill always loved everybody but she and her brother Raymond were specially close. She was a precious person, no-one who knew her will ever forget her. She loved family and she wanted us to know and remember our history and our family stories. Particularly the funny ones – there is no purer sense of humor than Aunt Jill’s. Not everybody in this world makes a big place in people’s hearts but Jill did. God bless her.

Thinking of Ray.
This will be the first time for Taylor and Evan not to spend special time on Christmas day with Uncle Raymond. He’d be in a Santa outfit or with some great surprise. It was a major part of Christmas for all of us. Often he would come in he middle of the night and set something up so it’d be here for the boys in the morning. They’ve learned a lot about caring for other people from their precious Uncle Raymond.

This was a posed picture taken at Paul Anderson (Dad says Ft. Sam and he’s probably right) to represent artists being hard at work for a brochure or something. I can tell it was used for printing because it has red printer’s pencil cropping lines. Maybe somebody else knows more about it. Granny had several from this photo shoot and gave me one when I was a teenager, she was really proud of it. Raymond thought he might follow Granddad as a fulltime commercial artist and he did for a while until he realized that he just couldn’t take being locked up in an office all day. When talking about it Raymond always modestly said that Uncle Bill and John Sr. had more natural talent. That may be so but Raymond had plenty. Of course Bill and Dad weren’t going to sit behind a desk either. Anyway, isn’t Raymond particularly good looking in this photo? No wonder Granny was proud.

about Raymond showing her around Santa Fe. I was telling her about this. Jimmie, Uncle Bill and I drove up there with Raymond in a VW bug for Fiesta one year. He timed the trip so that we could see this, the burning of Zazobra. It’s a local ritual where “Old Man Gloom” is set on fire signifying a couple of weeks of being able to celebrate without worry. Or something like that. It was amazing to see.

It’s a Polaroid so I bet my Dad took it, he was the family’s king of the self developing Polaroid photos in the 60′s. This is Raymond and his dad, our beloved Granddad, in 1965 right after the historical maker was awarded to the Square Nail.

our 23 year daughter who is now out of college and living on her own for the first time. After our talk I went into our family photos and found these with her great uncle Raymond. The house Casey lived in came from Raymond, her first car came from Raymond. The attention he gave to Taylor and Evan was constant and “one on one” but he did his thing a little more in the background with Casey. With the boys he would quiz them directly just about everyday, in person or over the phone, about how they were doing and what they were thinking and what was happening but with Casey he would mostly keep track of what was going on with her through Jimmie and I. She was a huge source of pride for him. He watched her from the time she was born and helped us care for her all though her life. He told me all the time that he thought she was very special. Women have always been held in the highest respect in our family, again going back to Granny, Aunt Phyllis and Aunt Inez; they ran the show. He didn’t have any of his own but he was absolutely great with kids. He used to say he had the best deal because he could enjoy them them but not have to hang around for any fit throwing. Like everything, he did it his way and it really worked for him.

at the Island in 1951. Didn’t Granny and Granddad do a wonderful thing in getting that little house on the hill and providing the island experience for the family? Granddad understood it because, no different than us, he was a kid on this river. And his father stood in this exact same spot in the 1800′s. It was so wise to get that house and hold onto our heritage there. Ever think of that? And it’s wise now to keep appreciating it. Evan at almost the age Dad was here is two generations after the time of this photo, two generations before and it was Indian territory. Before the Whipples and the Wimberleys and the Saunders were in this area it was the wild, wild west. Raymond said that neighbors there on Lakeview told him that Indians could still be seen, rarely but still occasionally, traveling along this river as late as the 1950′s. That’s right along the time this picture was taken, a time of overlapping of the new world over the old world.

Renee and I are keeping an eye on the stats and traffic is much higher than we ever expected, lots of people across the country are visiting this site. Check out the map of where all the hundreds of visits are coming from. The large circle is San Antonio, that’s the city with the most daily visits but look at all the cities from coast to coast. True, Raymond’s not popular in the Midwest or Canada but that’s understandable…. he didn’t come visit you either. That streak starting in Texas is San Antonio, New Braunfels, Austin, Dallas and somewhere in Oklahoma. We’re getting visits from people he knew in the east and west. I wish I knew how to reach people in Central America, they’d have to be interested in his story. I bet T.J. Head still has relatives down there – after reaching so many people in the States it makes me think it could be possible. We’ll just keep it going for ten years and see what happens.

He wrote on the back “On the street in San Salvador”. I’m going to have to look at a map and see exactly where that is. That’s the Ford Econ-o-line van he sold in Nicaragua for the money to live on the Island. He cruised all through Mexico and down to the Central American coast in it, sometimes staying in hotels and sometimes sleeping in the back. In this picture there might still be an empty bag in the van that had the spoiled “regalo” candy bars in it. Raymond figured he’d have to be on the most wanted list at every customs station all the way back to Laredo. This is one of the photos that Diane lent us. She more than doubled the photos we had of Raymond in these wanderin’ years. Diane, I’m about half way through scanning and I’ll get them back to you soon.

Friends, family recall artist’s connections

Published November 14, 2006

He never married, never had any children, but Raymond Whipple had one of the biggest families in the Texas Hill Country.

“He saw everybody as family,” said Bonnie Priest, a longtime friend of Raymond Whipple.

Priest, along with more than 40 artists, family members and friends, attended a bittersweet memorial service for Raymond Whipple on Sunday at New Braunfels’ Heritage Plaza.

They gathered under a brilliant blue sky to remember hilarious and heart-warming stories about a man who was difficult to categorize. Raymond Whipple was an artist, craftsman, conservationist and adventurer who believed deeply in the value of connection, friends said. He drew lasting and intense connections with people, with the past and with every community in which he lived, they said.

Diane Hernandez met Raymond Whipple in 1968, and their relationship flourished despite distance — Hernandez was in California and Raymond Whipple in Texas.

“Our spirits were together for our whole life,” said Hernandez, an artist and designer. “He was in my mind every day.” Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s another one of Ray and myself at my family reunion about 5 years ago.

I’ve been thinking about Raymond since his passing – also looking for pictures. Unfortunately, Raymond was the one who usually wielded the camera, so I have very few photos. Aside from being a wonderfully kind and patient person (except when, as children, Bill and I would modify his nickname from Pooger to Booger in order to trigger a little kill instinct and generate a really good chase), Raymond was always the great story teller and keeper of all the family history. As children, his scary stories were the best. He always modified them to fit the surroundings to make them just that much more real. In the 1962 Padre Island photo attached, he had whipped up a good story the night before about the wolves that prowled the island looking for easy human prey while they slept. The next morning, our cots in the tent were circled with coyote tracks and they had drug our ice chests outside the tent and raided their contents. Nothing like a touch of reality to make his stories hit home!

Seems like so much of how I see things in life came from Ray. Even though we didn’t see each other for many years I feel like we were still with each other in spirit. We had long conversations by phone at least 2 or 3 times a week in the last four years – solving the problems of the world or wondering why certain wordly problems existed.

I meet the managing editor of the local paper at their offices and, after a few phone calls, he’s going to send a reporter and photographer to cover the reception as a news story. He’s a very nice guy. Raymond had coffee and/or lunch in one local public place or another every day and being a daily cover to cover newspaper reader, he’d spread it out across the table and talk to his friends about what was news. They didn’t need to buy a paper, Raymond had the paper. He and all the locals will love it that his celebration will be honored in print. One of the buildings he Read the rest of this entry »

that Raymond did on glass that he put gold and silver leaf behind. This was in the years we were first working on our houses in Gruene (late 1970′s) and he had the big room in his place setup as a silkscreening work space. He was hand pulling these silkscreens, numbering them and selling them at art shows. He was planning on getting back to doing art shows because he loved it. There was one of the H.D. Gruene Mansion and other things that he drew right there in the old town. As you can see they were really cool.

playing train or bus in Cleveland. Raymond’s riding shotgun, that’s a toy double barrel shotgun he has. If I were you, I wouldn’t try to rob this train.

this is from when Raymond was a teenager and Granddad was teaching him.

he had it right there in his wallet.

I first met Raymond at his parents house. Louise Whipple introduced me to Ray and his parents. Louise wanted me to meet his father since he was an illustrator and I was an artist. She felt I would enjoy meeting him and maybe see his work. Ray took us on a canoe ride that day. He was always wanting people enjoy themselves and he created fun experiences for everyone.

Lewis,

My name is John Whipple. My grandfather Raymond Whipple and his son, my uncle, Raymond Whipple, Jr. were active in the Coppini Academy Of Fine Arts in the 60′s and 70′s. My uncle received a small scholarship of some kind from the Coppini members in the 60′s to attend art classes in Santa Fe and it was a very positive event in his life which lead to many experiences and opportunities.
Raymond passed away two weeks ago and I was trying to contact some of the older members of the group who might have known him. Any help you could give me would be greatly appreciated.

We have a site dedicated to Raymond at www.whipplememorial.com and we have included a link to your Coppini site because many who knew him as a young man remember him always talking about and being very grateful to the organization.

John Whipple
830-609-3423

was his cousins. He had tons and they all had big personalities. They were very close as children and they remained close to his heart. I know it because it was rare to spend a day with Raymond when one or more of Read the rest of this entry »

Taken in Kenedy 1946. . . .

Dad was 49, Mother was 38, Jill was 12, John was 9, Raymond was 3, Bill was in hiding. . . .

I can tell by the outfit Casey is wearing that this was Christmas. She and Raymond are up at 358 Lakeview in New Braunfels.

Raymond’s grandfather Levi Pullen, Raymond, John sr. and Granny…. and in front of them is one of the watermelons Granny’s father was famous for growing on the family farm down in Karnes County, Texas.

Everyday, up until the day he died, this was him.

I want to make a comment about one of my favorite Whipples, Mr. Raymond. What a kind, talented man. And then to learn that he was also a fine artist!!! EVEN more talent. What a blessing to have him in your family. I am so glad I got to see him at John’s birthday. My heart and prayers are with you over this loss. It does not seem possible. Love You and wish I could come see you. . . . Sissie

He’s standing in Chinatown with artist Alfred Guerra who was a very close childhood friend to Granny and Granddad. In the 1920′s the three of them were learning about art together in San Antonio and Alfred ended up being very successful in the New York commercial art world. Raymond tracked him down and put him on the phone with Granny and Granddad at the time of this photo which was 50 years later. Ray had a great medical illustrator job at Walter Reed near Washington D.C. He wasn’t in the civil service but the civil service hired him because they needed talented artists. A main benefit he saw in living up there was that he didn’t have any distractions and could spend the weekends traveling. He had a comfy little RV and Friday after work he’d take off and cruise though the mountains of Virginia, up to Boston, to New York City and everywhere. When I went up to visit him there, he had maps pinned up all over the walls marked up with where he had been and where he was planning to go. He traveled up, down and around all those Northern states.

Ray has his back to the camera.

I was in a car wreck day before yesterday, now in a pain pill daze just sitting here posting photos.

These are classic snapshots, I wonder who’s taking them. Raymond loved to turn his family and friends onto going to the beach and he loved to instigate a bunch of clowning around on Padre Island. I think he got lots of practice at that with all his Moody cousins who lived down there. He had great memories on the island and he always wanted to see others have good memories so all through his life he’d go to great lengths to encourage people to go. He himself had several islands in his life, both river and ocean.

Ray’s in the cool Dobbie Gillis hat and the wild 1920′s swimming trunks.

Uncle Raymond flying through the air.

John and Raymond. Many people have asked what the order of children in the family was. It’s Jill, John, Raymond and then Bill. Uncle Bill passed away two years ago. Aunt Jill is as sweet as ever, she suffered a series of strokes and is in the Eden Home here in New Braunfels. John Sr. is almost 70 now but doing well and living in Converse just north of San Antonio. If anyone wants to get a message to Dad or Aunt Jill just let us know and we’ll help.

Jill when you mentioned Raymond’s baby nickname this photo came to mind. Looks like John (my dad) and Aunt Jill are draggin’ wild little Pooger off to jail. For those that don’t know, Granny and Granddad had left Texas because of Granddad’s art director job and he held that great job through the depression which was hard to do. Those three kids had been raised in a fancy part of Cleveland living a comfortable, upscale suburban life way up north and suddenly after WWII their Dad retired back to the family farm in the middle of wild west nowhere in Kenedy, Texas. Dad and Jill look a little shocked but at least Raymond knew how to dress in Indian territory.

Needless to say, I was shocked and saddened by the news of my cousin Raymond’s death. He, John (Sr.), my brother Dan, and I played a lot together on our visits to my Uncle Raymond and Aunt Peggy when we were growing up, and at other family gatherings in San Antonio. Ray and I talked by phone several times within the last year or so about genealogy and family. He was a very caring person who really loved his extended family.

Ray Smith

in a “Butch Cassidy” hat. A very good New Mexican artist look. Ray wasn’t short, the guy he’s standing next has to be super tall. As a teenager Raymond got a scholarship for a couple of weeks in Santa Fe to study painting. He drove up into those mountains and he and Santa Fe fell in love. After many trips back and forth he moved out there. Just like here, he knew everybody and was welcomed into that “Paris in the 40′s” magic art scene and was one of the few to became a part of it during it’s coolest years. I’m going to write down the stories he told me – it’s going to be a continuous project. I’ll be calling family and friends to double check details. I’m particularly bad with dates so I may start by trying to make a time line.

I never could figure out how he got the name “Pooger” – I guess that’s how you spell it! That’s what all the older folks called him. He didn’t seem to mind.

Raymond was always about creating something fun to do. I think he got that from his Mom. Life was always to be an adventure.
I remember canoeing on the comal through the fog–out would come some spooky tale.
Padre Island was a favorite place.
Remember that convertible car that was a boat (John found that? One time Raymond and I went under the bridge – somewhere there in New Braunfels. It has a boat ramp. We parked at the top of the boat ramp and got real chummy next to each other like two people in love. (There were cars all around). He slipped in the clutch and we slowly eased down the boat ramp – too interested in each other to know we were headed for the water! You should have seen people scramble to try and alert us that we were going into the water … then we took off and just waved at them. That was a typical Raymond joke, full of fun.
His stories will be missed by all.
Jill Moody

October 30, 2006

Dear Whipples,

I was shocked and saddened to read unexpectedly in the Sunday Express News that Ray had suddenly passed away from a stroke.

Ray was like his dad, Uncle Raymond, who was either doing something interesting and exciting or planning to. One of the last times Ray and I talked, he said he was writing some stories about his Dad, a little history about 505 Rigsby and events in Highland Park in the old days. He had also talked about making a trip out West and to Mexico. I hope he was able to get some of those stories down on paper.

Professions, trades, the arts are all of equal importance, but in all cases entrepreneurism and creativity are the sparks that make the world go round. Ray was a shining Whipple example of both. His contributions to the fun, historical fabric of New Braunfels is appreciated by many but perhaps unknown by most though they may be enjoying his efforts in some way.. For example, one evening, not long ago, Susan and I were eating dinner at the Gristmill, the unique, beautiful restaurant that so many enjoy. I said, “Years ago, when I worked for Zachry, we had a materials yard in San Antonio at the corner of West Ave. and Nakoma. The company had salvaged a number of huge timber beams either from an old warehouse or a railroad trestle. Ray made a deal with Zachry for those timbers and that is what we are looking at in this building.”

When someone like Ray goes, it is like part of your past life has sloughed away and the future is diminished. I shall miss him. I can imagine an angel whispered, “Ray, you have done enough down there, We have some neat things for you to do up here.”

Susan joins me in sending all of you our condolences.

Cousin Charlie

we are gathering and scanning pictures of Ray from the 1940′s up until the one you see below. That was the last photo of Ray and was taken on Oct. 9th, just shortly before his death, for a newspaper article about him. All the photos and all the stories we gather will appear here as we continue to maintain this site in his memory. Please bookmark this page and check back for updates.

Raymond Whipple, died suddenly from a stroke on October 22 at the age of 63. He was born September 27, 1943 to artists Peg and Ray Whipple, Sr. The family moved from Highland Park to New Braunfels in the early 1960’s. Ray was a gifted artist and as a young man excelled in graphic design at the Paul Anderson Co. in San Antonio and later as a medical illustrator at Walter Reed in Silver Springs Maryland. Ray mastered many skills and was able to spend the majority of his life working independently on successful personal and family projects. A week prior to his death he was recognized for his work in restoring the Breustedt kitchen, a Texas Historical Landmark. His many interests included family, art, history, humor, travel and storytelling. His fascinating life included living on an island in Central America, operating an art gallery in Santa Fe and many travels across the United States. He had plans to travel again starting with southern Mexico in December. Raymond was unique, truly one of a kind. He was adored by his family, and the loss of his constant love, wisdom and companionship is immeasurable. Ray Whipple is survived by brother John L. Whipple, Sr., sister Phyllis Whipple, girl friend Diane Hernandez of Solvang, CA, many nephews, nieces, cousins and a lifetime of dear friends. All are welcome to graveside services at noon on Sun. Nov. 12th at San Marcos City Cemetery followed by a celebration of Ray’s life from 2:00 to 6:00 at Heritage Village, 1370 Church Hill Dr. in New Braunfels. Please visit www.whipplememorial.com for maps and more about Ray.

The family would greatly appreciate your presence for a short graveside service at San Marcos City Cemetery on Sunday Nov. 12th at Noon. It was Raymond’s wish to be placed next to his parents, brother and other family members. After we lay Raymond to rest we will meet at Heritage Village a short distance away in New Braunfels for a reception and a celebration of his life. If you cannot attend the service, please come to the reception – it will continue from 2:00 to 6:00 pm. We will have food, drinks, music, photos and remembrances of all the many things he meant to so many people. Please spend this time with us in honoring him.

Here is a link to an interactive map to the Cemetery. Here is a map with directions of how to get from the cemetery to the reception. Here is another page of directions to Heritage Village.

Members of the Heritage Society knew and respected Raymond and they have very kindly offered us the use of their beautiful Heritage Village facilities for the afternoon of the 12th. Raymond was a friend to architectural conservation in New Braunfels for decades. We will meet in a building next to the newly relocated Breustedt Kitchen. This amazing old limestone rock landmark had been one of Raymond’s restoration projects and he was extremely happy to see it moved this month to it’s gorgeous new live oak tree covered setting next to it’s original house which had been moved to this same spot in 1965. I believe that the magic will become clear to you when you see it. This is the perfect place for Ray’s family and friends to meet.

You do not have to RSVP but I would appreciate it if you would. johnwhipple@gmail.com

On behalf of my family, please know how very deeply we appreciate your friendship

John Whipple, Jr.