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Raymond Thomas Jones died Feb. 3 at the age of 92. Raymond was the third son of Leslie and Elizabeth Jones of Beverly, Massachusetts, born July 23, 1924, in Waltham, Massachusetts.

After graduating from Beverly High in 1941, he attended Tufts University in the NROTC V-12 program and entered WWII as a Navy ensign, the skipper of a landing craft tank in Subic Bay, Philippines. He was honorably discharged in 1954. He returned to Tufts to receive his bachelor of science in chemistry and master’s in education, and in 1954 a bachelor of divinity from Andover Newton Theological School. He completed his doctorate in philosophy at Columbia University in 1965.

His first pastorate was the Sherman Congregational Church in Sherman. He became chaplain and professor of philosophy and religion at Defiance College in Defiance, Ohio, in 1959. After teaching for four years at Kutztown State College in Pennsylvania, he became minister for 18 years at the Federated Church of Orleans, Massachusetts, in 1970. They wrote of him “Ray has labored amongst us with diligence and distinction. He has proclaimed a prophetic message in a thoughtful and courageous way. He has stood before us as a man of integrity and compassion.” He also served as interim minister at Easthampton, Massachusetts, Union Congregational in Peterborough, New Hampshire, UCC of North Hampton, New Hampshire, Newington Town Church, New Hampshire, and Mont Vernon Congregational Church, New Hampshire, as well as supply pastor during his active years.

He was solo clarinetist in the Tufts and ROTC band and orchestra and later played in the Civic Symphony Orchestra of Boston, the Defiance College Orchestra, and the Cape Cod Symphony.

During their 65 years of marriage, he and his wife, Suzanne (Lawrence) Jones, built a small cottage in Yarmouth, Massachusetts, and a passive solar house in Orleans, Massachusetts. They also restored a log house in Vermont, and settled on a former pasture in New Hampshire, where he built a quarter-acre veggie garden, the largest of all his lifetime of wonderful gardens. He had a remarkable green thumb. He loved hiking in the White Mountains and was an avid skier.

In his retirement Ray joined the Marine docent program at the University of New Hampshire. He became very concerned about climate changes caused by the carbon dioxide and methane we are dumping into the air, and wrote a small book entitled Challenges of Sustainability.

He is survived by his wife Sue; a daughter, Rebecca Bunting (Rob); a son, Andrew Jones (Holly); grandsons Jeremy Bunting, Colin Bunting, Austin Jones, and Spencer Jones; great-granddaughter Maisy Bunting; and the families of his two deceased brothers, Stanley and Edwin.

A memorial service will be held at the First Congregational Church of Guilford on Feb. 11 at 1:00 p.m. Contributions in his memory can be made to CTHospice or 350.org.