Raymond “Ray” F. Vander Weyst, 82, Waite Park

October 17, 1939 - June 4, 2022

Mass of Christian Burial will be 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, June 9, 2022 at St. Peter’s Catholic Church in St. Cloud for Raymond “Ray” F. Vander Weyst, 82, of Waite Park, who passed away on Saturday, June 4, 2022 at his home, surrounded by family. Rev. LeRoy Scheierl will officiate and burial will be at St. John’s Catholic Cemetery in Foley. Visitation will be 4:00 – 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday, June 8, 2022 at Williams Dingmann Family Funeral Home in Sauk Rapids and also one hour prior to mass at the church on Thursday. The Knights of Columbus will pray the rosary at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday evening at the funeral home in Sauk Rapids.

Raymond Francis Vander Weyst was born at home on October 17, 1939 in Mayhew Lake Township to William and Marie (Hargreaves) Vander Weyst. He attended Foley schools until he transferred to St. Lawrence Seminary in Wisconsin where he graduated from. Ray helped his dad on the family farm until he married Virginia Januszewski on June 5, 1961. He then worked at Franklin Manufacturing, Firestone and later, in the maintenance department for the St. Cloud School District 742. Soon after that, he accepted a position as head maintenance and engineer for South Jr. High for many years. Ray was later hired as property manager for the Benton County Courthouse Facility, where he worked for 14 years, before retiring.

Ray could best be described as a dedicated and loving family man. He instilled a strong work ethic in all of his children and set an excellent example of living a faith-filled life. Ray was truly the rock of his family. He enjoyed his work and included his children in everything he did, like cutting wood or delivering firewood. Ray like to play cards, Yahtzee, horseshoes and bean bags. He had a great sense of humor, would offer his help to others at any time and loved hunting and fishing with his sons. Ray will always be remembered for his patience, reliability, his love for the outdoors and most importantly, the love he showed to his family.

Survivors include his wife, Virginia of Waite Park; children, David (Karen) of Foley, Eileen (Tim) Studniski of Foley, Carol Gruba of Waite Park, Kathleen (Ken) Broviak of Sauk Rapids, Steven (Cheryl) of Foley, Allen (Bekki) of Waite Park, Brian (Denise) of Foley, Deborah (Jim) Winkler of Milaca, Bradley of Sartell, Christopher (Stacey) of Albany, Rich (Jessica) of Plain City, OH, and Karen (Dan) Rorvik of Clarkfield; 24 grandchildren, 24 great grandchildren with two on the way; and siblings, Merlin (Mary Jane) of St. Cloud and Rose Marie (Anthony) Januszewski of St. Cloud. He was preceded in death by his parents; sister, Janet Erpelding and brothers, Howard and Robert.

Memorials are preferred to St. Jude’s Research Hospital.

The family would like to extend a special thank you to Allen, Bekki, Kathy and Jackie for the loving and dedicated care that was given to Ray.