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View a eulogy for Raymond Joseph Paske, USMA '65, who passed away on September 21, 2022.

Raymond Joseph Paske

West Point, 1965

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by Robert Orr on September 25, 2022:

Ray and I went through Beast Barracks together. We were either in the same squad in Beast or he was in the squad led by my squad leader's roommate. Things got crowded. He was excited to be at West Point and to participate in football. After Beast, we went into different companies and we were all disappointed when he lost (temporarily) his battle with the academic department. Excited that he rejoined the Class of 1965.

Fast forward to late Spring 1962. As a member of the sports department of Station KDET (now WKDT), I got to interview newly hired Coach Paul Dietzel. We had a lengthy interview which later aired on KDET. I remember very little about that meeting but I did pop the question about potential All-American candidates. Coach Dietzel was very diplomatic, refocused me on the team concept, but he did say - and this gave me a source of pride - "Our two best players are John Ellerson and Ray Paske."

In the Winter-Spring of 1964 as I was getting close to graduating, I was recovering from a knee operation and could not yet march in formation. We of the walking wounded would move off to the Sally Port and then walk into the mess hall on our own. One day as I shuffled over there was Ray. He was hosting Pat Donnelly as an exchange midshipman. Ray introduced us and I thought to myself, "Gee, he is awful small to be a fullback" - he had ripped us for three touchdowns in the 1963 Army Navy game that also saw Ray make a couple of stellar runs that helped us nearly pull off a stunning victory.

I graduated, we lost touch, but Ray was a super guy and I am fortunate to have crossed paths with him.

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