Raymond H. Fairbank

Raymond H. Fairbank, 97, of Bettendorf, and formerly of Phoenix, and Moline, went home to Jesus on Friday September 6, 2024. Ray was born at his Family’s ranch in Montana 20 miles south of Canada on October 7, 1926. The third child of Hermina and George Fairbank who came to Montana to homestead from the Midwest. The Fairbank family had six children who raised cattle and dry-farmed wheat. They lived simply, pumping water from a well, and heated from wood stove. Ray and his siblings would do chores in the early hours of the morning, milking cows while their mother was making flapjacks for breakfast. Ray and his siblings rode their horse to Cherry Patch school, a one-room schoolhouse. They attended High School in Turner Montana where Ray played basketball and the saxophone.

In 1946 Ray enlisted in the Army-Air Force where he met his first wife while stationed at Chanute Air Force base near Champaign, IL. They wrote to one another as Ray changed bases to Muroc, California where he was a member of Chuck Yaeger's team on the XS1, which broke the sound barrier. Lastly stationed in Bermuda, with an honorable discharge returned to the Midwest to marry Helen Gunning on August 16th, 1949. Ray and Helen moved to Bozeman, Montana, where Ray received his engineering degree from Montana State University. Soon after graduating he was hired by John Deere and Company in Moline, IL. There he is credited with nine patents on Farm Machinery. They had one daughter, Mary Ann.

Ray was active in Jaycees, Rotary Club, Toastmasters, and Value engineering. He promoted Metric conversion while working for Deere and traveled overseas. He was active in his church. In 1977 his first wife, Helen, died of congestive heart failure, leaving Ray alone. Ray attended a Charismatic Renewal and rededicated his life to Christ. Soon after he met his second wife, Ruth Lindgren, who was a newly converted Christian, recently divorced. They both were alone with a newfound purpose to devote their lives to God’s people. They married in 1979 and started a singles bible study linking young Christians together. They shared their home with countless young Christians, supported a young pregnant woman and her child. Ray was involved in Full Gospel Businessmen and Crisis Pregnancy Center. 

Ray retired from Deere in 1983 and went to work for Frank Foundry where he became Vice President. In 1994 he and his wife moved to Phoenix, Arizona, where he worked as a Christian Counselor for VCL. In Phoenix he became an Elder and Youth leader in his Church – mentoring teens are going on mission trips to Mexico, Costa Rica, and Brazil. Ray and Ruth hosted 15 different Foreign Exchange Students in their home during this time. Ruth began to show signs of illness and was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. A dutiful husband, Ray had to quit his job and become full time caregiver. She died in 2009. Ray acquired his Masters in Biblical Ministry in 2010. He moved back to the Quad Cities in 2016 and continued to mentor young men and Youth Group at Church.

Raymond is survived by his daughter, Mary Ann (Richard) Wells of Davenport, IA and his stepchildren Todd Lindgren (Texas) and Laura Lindgren (NYC). 

A celebration of his life will be held at 10 am on Wednesday, September 11, 2024, at Halligan-McCabe-DeVries Funeral Home, Davenport. Burial will be in National Cemetery, Rock Island. Visitation will be from 9am until time of services.

Online remembrances may be expressed at www.hmdfuneralhome.com.