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Treasure Valley onion man Ray Obendorf dies at age 101

By
Kathleen Thomas Gaspar

Lifelong onion grower George Ray Obendorf, known as Ray by family, friends and colleagues, died Friday, June 28. Mr. Obendorf had celebrated his 101st birthday four days earlier.

Mr. Obendorf was born June 24, 1923, in Caldwell, ID, to George Bernard Obendorf and Edith Cornelia (Trout) Obendorf, and he died in the home he built in 1955, not far from his birthplace.

His life was testament to a commitment to farming and family. Following in the footsteps of his father, who farmed on the Wilder Bench until his death in 1933, Mr. Obendorf began his onion-growing career at age 14 with a single field.

rayHe graduated from Wilder High School, where he played basketball and was class valedictorian, and he went on to attend the University of Idaho for one year, studying engineering. Mr. Obendorf returned home to take over the family farm.

In 1948 he began growing hops after a neighbor offered to dry the crop if Mr. Obendorf would grow it. With that, Obendorf Farms was started on 20 acres, and Mr. Obendorf farmed with his older brothers, Bernard and Orville.

On Dec. 16, 1949, Mr. Obendorf married Margorie Dorolene Volkmer in Parma, ID. The couple had met at the Claytonia Dances in Marsing, ID, and they were married for 57 years prior to her death in 2006. Two children were born to the union, Teresa and Greg.

In addition to being a farmer, Mr. Obendorf was an avid golfer and played the game well into his 90s. His grandsons could never beat him, even when he was 99 years old.

Prior to her death, Mr. and Mrs. Obendorf spent their retirement years in Mesa, AZ, golfing.

Two years after Mrs. Obendorf passed away, Mr. Obendorf married Carole Helen of Edmonton, AB.

For many years the couple traveled extensively, enjoying time in Arizona, Edmonton and Parma and sharing their love of golf. Last year a large crowd of family and friends gathered to celebrate Ray Obendorf’s century mark.  

He is survived by wife, Carole; daughter, Teresa Ann Obendorf of Eagle, ID; son, Gregory Ray Obendorf (Ann) of Parma; grandchildren Phillip George Obendorf (Whitney), Brock Heinrich Obendorf, Christian Ray Obendorf (Morgan) and Connery Houston Clark. He is also survived by six great-grandchildren. Grandsons Phillip, Brock and Christian carry on the legacy of Obendorf Farms.

Mr. Obendorf was preceded in death by his two brothers, Bernard Walter Obendorf and Orville Wayne Obendorf, and one sister, Marie Elizabeth Harris. He was also predeceased by his first wife, Marjorie Dorolene Obendorf.

The family expressed thanks to Home Instead for its care and also to Horizon Home Health & Hospice.

Kathleen Thomas Gaspar

About Kathleen Thomas Gaspar  |  email

Kathleen is a Colorado native and has been writing about produce for more than three decades and has been a professional journalist for more than four decades. Over the years she’s covered a cornucopia of crops grown both in the United States and abroad, and she’s visited dozens of states – traveling by car from her home base in Colorado to the Northwest and Southeast, as far as Vancouver, BC, and Homestead, FL. Now semi-retired, Kathleen continues to write about produce and is also penning an ongoing series of fiction novels. She’s a wife, mother of two grown sons and grandmother of six, and she and her fly fisherman husband Abe reside in the Banana Belt town of Cañon City.

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