Ray C. Hathhorn

Ray C. Hathhorn 55 years of age of Salmon, Idaho passed away on Saturday, September 6, 2014 at Discovery Care Center in Salmon, surrounded by family and friends. Ray was born October 22, 1958 in Salmon, Idaho to Raymond and Bessie (Bumpy) Hathhorn. He grew up in Salmon and graduated from Salmon high School in 1977. He worked and trained in the family construction business from middle school through high school under the mentorship of his father. He was a journeyman carpenter by the time he graduated from high school. At the insistence of his parents he agreed to at least give college a try. He attended Boise State University in 1978, but left after one year to pursue a career in construction. As a teenager, Ray loved fast cars and bikes. He may have even done a little drag racing, and the Lord knows he scratched a few of them. He had a great athletic ability with passion for basketball, football, baseball and eventually softball. He was a motor cross racer and an avid hunter and fisherman. He was the quarterback of the football team and one of his athletic achievements besides being named to All Conference teams was winning the MVP for a multi-state basketball tournament in Nevada. He continued his passion for baseball into adulthood with playing softball. He was a local "homerun hitter" hitting many dingers in his softball career. Ray's construction career took him on a long journey that covered almost every state in the Northwestern United States, from Texas to Washington. He worked hard and played hard, quickly gaining more large scale construction experience and responsibility. He became a project manager for Radcliffe Construction at the age of 28, responsible for multi-million dollar construction projects, typically projects for major facilities on military bases for the Department of Defense. On his journey He recruited and helped a lot of Salmon folks to come and work with him, especially when jobs were sparse in the Salmon area. He was a natural leader, cared about people and made an effort to help people. After nearly a decade and a half of traveling he gave it up and returned to Salmon to restart the family business. It was a much smaller scale but he was happy to be home. He designed and built homes and some commercial work from then on. He has let his mark and fingerprints on many structures in the Salmon and Challis Valleys. He was a talented and skilled builder. He was an important mentor to his two younger brothers, demanding that they pursue and complete their degrees. Although he knew he had chosen construction over college, he loved to joke how easy they had it as compared to his later life. He coached and pushed them to succeed. They could always count on him to give honest feedback, straight talk, and even some tough love when they had it coming. He is survived by his parents of Salmon, brother Jeff and children: Ashley, Emily and Chase of Meridian, brother Marc (Lori) Hathhorn and children: Riley, Maria and Zoey of Edwardsville, Illinois; aunt Wilma, Uncle Tony, and many cousins and beloved companion Sheri Hall. He was preceded in death by his grandparents, and infant sister, three aunts and a niece. A Memorial services will be held at 1:00 p.m. Saturday, September 27, 2014 at the Eagles Lodge in Salmon, Idaho.