Raymond's obituary
Our family shares the loss of Raymond Redden, beloved husband, father, and grandfather. He passed away peacefully with his devoted wife Zana by his side on the morning of Sunday, August 31, 2025.
Ray was born in 1938 in Loma Linda, California as the youngest child of LeeRoy and Vera Redden. He was the final survivor of his immediate family.
Ray's life was one of integrity, discovery, and ingenuity. He was a lifelong general aviation pilot, licensed aviation mechanic, accomplished inventor, and brilliant engineer. With two patents credited to his name, his inventions are found in some of the tallest buildings around the world, and his custom-engineered valves and actuators are installed on submarines, Space Shuttles and nuclear facilities. On many occasions, he traveled to remote locations worldwide in support of his companies' customers. But his technical expertise didn't just carry him across oceans and continents. "Mr. Fix-It" Ray was a thoughtful and kind soul, a problem-solver and repairer of various and sundry things for neighbors and countless others who regarded him as a friend.
Ray was a fixture of the Sacramento Executive Airport community. He shared his passion for aviation with young and old alike. When he wasn't flying, he could be found talking about airplanes, buying, repairing and selling airplanes, or most likely, "hangar flying" with his many airport friends while pretending to work on airplanes.
Throughout his many walks of life - via passions, hobbies, projects, through employment and retirement - Ray always made strong and lifelong friendships, many of which persisted to his very last days.
In addition to his wife of 61 years, Zana Redden, Ray is missed by his daughters, Linnea Carter (Rob) and Jerda Campbell-Hererra (Javier), and their mother Fern Johnson; his son Timothy Redden (Shawna) and daughter Tiffany Redden; his grandchildren, John Paul Campbell, Robert Thompson (Ashley), Melanie Hasty (David), Sarah Thompson, Elliot Tan, and Sydney Tan; great-grandchildren, Chloe, Eliana, Abigail and Stephen Hasty.
A Celebration of Life occurred on Saturday, September 27, 2025 at the Aerospace Museum of California in Sacramento, with approximately 160 friends and family in attendance.