Rev. Ray Edwin Harvey

.Reverend Ray Edwin Harvey, 96, of Kernersville, NC passed from this life to the next on Tuesday, May 20, 2025.

Reverend Harvey was born to Ray Edward and Laura Adith Harvey (Foos) on September 1, 1928, in the Marion, Ohio area. He was the sixth of seven children living on the family farm. His early years were spent working the farm and attending a one room country school with his brothers (James and Marion) and sisters (Grace, Alice, Anna Mae and Ruth). The family were members of Lichen’s Chapel Methodist Church. He graduated with honors from Cardington High School in 1946, greatly enjoying his roles on the school’s debate teams and its Future Farmers of America chapter. He raised white-faced Hereford cattle as a teenager and in 1945 won a first place blue ribbon for a particularly fine example at the Morrow County Fair. He worked the loading docks at Isley’s Ice Cream and the machine shop at Marion Steam Shovel to earn money for college.

Ray married Alice Jean Harvey (Radel) in 1951 and moved to Winston Salem, NC in 1952 to attend Piedmont Bible College, graduating in 1956 with a Bachelor of Theology degree. He began supply preaching in Forsyth County and teaching at the newly formed Salem Baptist Day School shortly thereafter. He was a teacher and Principal at Salem Baptist Day School from 1957 to 1989, and during that time formed lifelong friendships with students and faculty that have endured to his passing.

In 1959 he was asked by the leadership of Salem Baptist Church to “plant” a mission church in Sedge Garden, NC. The mission was set up inside an army surplus Quonset hut at the corner of Highway 150 and Linville Road in Forsyth County. Reverend Harvey led the acquisition of land across Linville Road in 1963 and worked with the Salem and Sedge Garden church leadership to acquire the funds to build Sedge Garden Baptist Church in 1965. He left that pastorate in 1978.

Although officially retired from school administrator duties in 1990, Rev. Harvey began another career as a substitute teacher in the Forsyth County Public School system in 1991. He taught primarily at Piney Grove Elementary School, and truly enjoyed being an elementary school teacher. He stopped teaching altogether in 2019 at the age of 91. Ray may have been the oldest regularly employed teacher in the state at that time. His career in education lasted over 60 years.

Ray was a longtime member of Kernersville’s First Baptist Church where he served as a deacon and Sunday School teacher. On the weekends he was not at church he was hiking or zip-lining in the western NC mountains, watching his sons fail to catch fish on Hatteras Island, or hiking in the desert outside of Las Vegas, Nevada. He was not keen on relaxation unless it involved baking a first-class pound cake.

Ray was a diehard Duke basketball fan, and loved attending games at Cameron Indoor Stadium. His favorite seats were at midcourt, one row above the raucous Cameron Crazies.

Rev. Harvey is survived by two sons, Dr. Noel Harvey (Dr. Helen Pak) of Efland, NC, and Marcus Harvey (Laura Newby) of Randleman, NC; as well as four grandchildren, Amelia Pak-Harvey (Andrew Tullis) of Indianapolis, IN, Dr. Ezra Pak-Harvey of Philadelphia, PA, Adam Ray and William Ryan Harvey of Randleman, NC; and a great-granddaughter, Matilda Danbi Tullis of Indianapolis, IN.

A visitation celebrating Rev. Harvey will be held at Hayworth-Miller Kernersville Chapel on Friday, May 30, 2025 from 5-7 PM. A memorial Service will be held at noon on Saturday, May 31, 2025, at First Baptist Church in Kernersville. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Randolph Hospice House, 446 Vision Dr, Asheboro, NC 27203, or to the First Baptist Church in Kernersville, 401 Oakhurst St, Kernersville, NC 27284