Raymond “Ray” Cooke, beloved husband of Maureen E. Cooke, died peacefully at home on Thursday, Oct. 20, 2005, after a long and valiant battle with cancer.

Ray was born in London, England, in 1928. During World War II he was evacuated as a young boy to Aberdare, Wales to escape the London bombings.

Later he lived with his parents in Twickenham, England, as a teenager and went on to work for the BBC.

He emigrated to Canada in 1964 first to Toronto, Ontario and then to Vancouver, B.C., where he studied and became a real estate broker specializing in residential and commercial appraisals for many years.

Ray met Maureen in Vancouver in 1980 and together they moved down to the Seattle area and started a business consulting firm.

In 1989 they moved to Whidbey Island to build and operate the Twickenham House Inn B&B in Langley and in 1997 Ray opened the British Shop in Langley.

In 2001 Ray and Maureen created and launched the Fish Bowl Restaurant where he acted as the president and sous-chef until his retirement in late 2004.

He was a genius of sorts — always seemed to be able to build, create or fix anything in the world.

His two biggest passions in life from an early age were tinkering, fixing and racing old vintage cars (Cobra, Brabham, Lotus) and playing all the old classical songs by ear on his Baby Grand piano. He was an active car racing participant from the early ’70s through to 2004 starting with the VRCBC and laterally with Sovren where he raced his cars up and down the West Coast.

He leaves to mourn his wife, Maureen E. Cooke, his three children, Sarah, Judith and Justin, his stepdaughter Tammi Yeudall and two grandsons, Preston and Colton.

At Ray’s request, there will be no memorial service.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial donations to: Home Health Care & Hospice of Whidbey General Hospital, PO Box 400, Coupeville, WA 98239.