Raymond 'Ray' Bernard Weisser, age 89, of Hot Springs, SD, passed away March 5, 2011, at the Custer Regional Senior Care in Custer, SD.

Ray was born August 10, 1921, in Tyndall, SD to Bernard W. and Grace (Wynia) Weisser. In 1926, Ray and his two year old sister Hazel, moved with their parents to Hot Springs, SD. His parents divorced when Ray was 8 years old, making Ray the man of the family, a responsibility he took seriously finding many ingenious ways of making money to help with the family finances.

After high school graduation, he went to work for the State Highway Commission, surveying for the highway from Edgemont to Igloo.

Ray volunteered for Pilot Training in the Air force at Ft Meade Army Base. He passed the exams and began flight training only to be washed out due to a cracked bone in his foot from a weekend skiing accident. Then in September 1942, Ray was drafted into the Army at Ft Leavenworth, KS. From there he was sent to Sacramento, CA for basic training and three weeks later made Corporal and was off to Valparaiso, IN, for four months of school in radio repair at the Dodge Institute of Electronics. After graduation, he was sent to West Palm Beach, FL for two months of radar training, but discovered Diesel Electronics School was more to his liking and upon completion received his Sergeant stripes.

He then transferred to the 36th Street Airbase, Miami, FL, where he took additional training to install teletype stations. Joining a 144 man experimental group divided into 12 man teams, Ray's group built Teletype stations first in South America and then were reassigned to Africa, where after three months, he was promoted to a troubleshooter role supervising new teams. By the end of WWII, there were some 3000 men and officers involved in this Army communications top secret project attached to A.A.C.S. of the Signal Corp.

Headquartered out of Algiers in North Africa, Ray flew throughout Africa checking the installation and operation of electrical power and teletype operations. One of the highlights of his Army career was to be selected as the Head Electrician for the Yalta Peace Conference in Russia. He traveled from Africa to Naples, Italy by air and then sailed aboard the USS Caloctin, the Flag Ship of the 8th Fleet, to Istanbul, Turkey by way of the Aegean Sea passing through the Dardanelles into the Black Sea, then on to the northern part of the Crimean Peninsula. As Yalta Harbor was full of sunken ships, the U.S. ships were forced to dock at the Harbor of Sevastopol and, as the Russians would not allow anyone to put transmitters on Russian soil, Rays team had to string landlines from the fleet about 95 miles over the mountains into Yalta. This was a vital war effort as all messages in and out of this world changing peace conference went over these lines and all electricity for the peace conference came from the generators installed and power lines strung to the castle where the military officers and the leaders of "The Big Three" Russian leader Joseph Stalin, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Prime Minister of England Winston Churchill, were deciding the end of WWII in Europe. As he was in the President's room many times insuring the flow of electricity to the President's equipment, Ray became well acquainted with President Roosevelt while he was there.

From Yalta, he went back to Naples and Rome for six weeks of R&R and back to Algiers and Casablanca before returning to the States and was temporary duty leave when the war ended in Europe. He was sent to Philadelphia, PA to a wire splicing school and was scheduled to return to Turkey, but had too many points to be sent back over seas and ended his military career as an instructor for three months with discharge at Ft Monmouth, NJ, after Japan surrendered.

After returning to Hot Springs from the war, he met and married Hazel Trosper on Feb. 2, 1947. Hazel became his lifelong love and was his support and partner of 64 years "until death do us part". Ray and Hazel raised 2 children of their own and always opened their home and hearts to their children's friends, grand children and community youth.

Ray was a lifelong Boy Scout joining the Cub Scouts when he was 8 years old and has been a member continuously since. He was Scout Master for both Troop 22 and Troop 23, the Charter Organizational Representative between Troup 23 and the United Churches, served ten years as District Commissioner; many years as District Advancement Chairman and was awarded the Scouter's Key, Order of the Arrow Vigil, the Wood Badge, the Sustaining Member in Scouting James E. West Fellowship Award and in 1970 the coveted Silver Beaver Award eventually earning almost every award given by the Boy Scouts of America and Black Hills Council. Ray was also a troop and national leader at many National Boy Scout Jamborees over the years.

Ray was very active as an outdoors man and shooter, a life time member of the National Rifle Association and helping to establish and actively participating in State championship adult and youth rifle teams, the local trap shooting club, the French Creek Mountain Man club, outboard hydroplane boat club and races, and every hunting and fishing adventure the Black Hills had to offer, eventually earning him the nickname "old man of the lake". Ray loved taking his tepee, his muzzle loader rifles and all the other equipment that a fur trader of the early 1800's needed (if he'd had a twenty mule team to haul it all) along with his grandson and later his daughter and son-in-law and usually a neighborhood kid or two off to a rendezvous 4 to 5 times a year. A rendezvous is a large camp out and gathering, sometimes hundreds of people, all reenacting the life of the early wilderness explorers and fur traders for a few days. As with all his activities this was always a family affair with his wife Hazel responsible for Ray's beaded and authentic costumes.

Ray was active in his community and was proud to be a Commander of the American Legion and an Exalted Ruler of the Elks. A member of the United Churches of Hot Springs, he was an active member for over sixty years and for the last few years after moving to Custer to be near Hazel in the nursing home, joined the Custer Lutheran Fellowship Church.
Ray was a career civil servant going to work at the Hot Springs Veteran's Administration July of 1946 as projectionist showing movies to the veterans and to the hospital ward patients and medical films to the Doctors. After about a year, the job ended so he joined the painting crew working his way up to Paint Crew Supervisor and after thirty years received a medical retirement. Not one to sit, he had several sidelines including window and screen repair, saw sharpening, painting and wall papering, raising and training Labrador hunting dogs, and collecting Model A Fords.

He is survived by his wife Hazel, residing at Custer Senior Care Nursing Home, daughter Connie Newberg, retired and living in Canyon Lake, TX, son Harvey Weisser, a counselor with Veterans Administration and living in Prescott, AZ, their granddaughter Karen Weisser, a real estate specialist and 4 year old great grandson Kaleb who also lives in Prescott, AZ. and numerous nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in Death by his parents, sister, Hazel Clason, son-in-law Ralph LeRoy Newberg, a grandson Ralph Raymond Newberg and two infant grandsons.

Memorial services will be held at 11:00 a.m., Friday, March 25, 2011, at the United Churches in Hot Springs with Rev. Morris Nelson officiating.

A memorial has been established in Ray's name to benefit the Pine Tree District Boy Scouts Black Hills Area Council. Contributions can be mailed to Boy Scouts-Black Hills Area Council, 144 North Street, Rapid City, SD 57701.

Arrangements have been placed in the care of McColley's Chapel of the Hills in Custer. Written condolences can be made at www.mccolleyschapels.com.