RAYMOND BARRY HERBERT, DDS
Raymond B. Herbert broke the” surly bonds of earth” to “touch the face of God” on May 22, 2009. A pilot, a sailor and a dentist, Ray was born in the Bronx on April 25, 1942 to the late Ethel Bayuk and George A. Herbert. With his younger sister Geraldine (Stinson Wise), the family moved to South Miami where Ray attended Coral Gables High School. After undergraduate work at the University of Florida, Ray obtained his degree as Doctor of Dental Surgery from West Virginia University in Morgantown in 1966. His career included positions in both private and public practice interrupted by a long hiatus caused by serious injury to both legs in an automobile accident in 1979 upon his return from a year in Guatemala.
Ten years later he resumed work in Pinellas County until offered the position of Senior Dentist at the South Florida Reception Center in Miami. He also served at dental offices in Gainesville, Key West, Live Oak, Ocoee, Mt. Dora and Winter Haven. Plagued by continuing medical problems, Ray and his wife retired to Ocala in September of 2000.
In 1970 Ray won the I-26 North American Sweepstakes for the longest tyro glider flight in region 5 (280.0 miles), a record which still stands in any class according to the I-26 Association, terming it “a truly remarkable flight” which has “stood the test of time.”
This kind and gentle and generous soul was a Unitarian, a Democrat, a ham radio operator (K4QKE), a Navy veteran and a lover of classical music who built his own harpsichord. He leaves behind his sister, many Bayuk cousins and his beloved pets Odyssey, Maxie and Joy as he sails “the high untrepassed sanctity of space.” Ray is the love of the life of his wife, Delphine Blachowicz Herbert.