Raymond Elmer Streutker was born in Oak Harbor, Washington, on July 18, 1923. and lived on the farm pictured on the right, where he worked very hard helping his father raise chickens and pigs, milking cows, and working in the fields. His father, Henry, was a Dutch immigrant who settled in Oak Harbor, which at the time was largely a Dutch community, and remains that way today.
	Here is Ray at about age 8. A typical picture -- one tooth knocked out, safety pins holding his pants up -- and still having a good time. And today, still, no matter what, Ray always finds something to smile about.
Here is the family, posing for an outdoor portrait. From left, Ray's father and mother, Ray, brother Bill, and brother Jim. Like Lorraine's mother, Ray's mother also worked extra jobs to afford a camera; and she is the reason we have pictures today of Ray's childhood.
	Ray grew up with his two brothers, and also later, a sister, Ellen. All of the children had very poor vision, and needed glasses from early on, which were not easy for the family to afford. But somehow they managed to keep glasses on all the kids, even though, with Ray especially, it was hard to keep the glasses from breaking. Ray was a very "energetic" child. He has countless stories of youthful folly. One story is about a food fight in the chicken coop, involving freshly laid eggs as ammunition with chickens as targets.
Although Ray created his fair share of trouble, most of his youthful energy went into working hard. Ray and his father left Oak Harbor to purchase a gas station in Bremerton, and later the family relocated there. Ray went to work for his father, pumping gas (the old-fashioned way, with an actual pump), repairing tires, and doing all the mechanical work that his father, a genious mechanic, had trained him to do.
	Ray was 18, and in 1941 he graduated from Bremerton High School.