Helping Idaho's Kids
Ray Bucy, St. Luke's Children's Hospital Benefactor
At age 95, retired farmer Ray Bucy has lived long enough to know what matters to him. Family. Farming. Staying active – physically and mentally. And giving back.
Family includes his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Farming these days means tending his vegetable and flower gardens. And even though he has physical problems that require the assistance of a full-time health aide, he still lifts weights, rides a stationary bike, and stretches, “to keep my muscles working.”
When it comes to giving back, Ray’s Bucy’s philosophy is “I can’t take it with me.”
He gives generously “to help the kids” at St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital, as well as to the Children’s Ranch, a Bible College, and the homeless of Nampa and Caldwell.
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Ray was born in Nebraska in 1914, and in 1935 he hitched a ride on a train to Idaho, looking for work. He got a job picking fruit on a farm. It was there he met his wife, Gertrude, a school teacher. They were married in 1937, and together raised a daughter and three sons. When Gertrude died in 2002, they had been married for 65 years.
The Bucys bought a 40-acre ranch near Wilder in 1939, where Ray still lives today. He spent his career ranching and farming. “I made a pretty good income for a guy like me,” he says.
Ray is writing a book about his life, inspired by Gertrude, who wrote a book and dedicated it to him. Those books, along with the memories of a loving family, will ensure that Ray and Gertrude will live on, long after they are gone.
And the work that can be done to save kids’ lives and help them heal, thanks to Ray’s generosity, is a legacy that can never be measured. His name on a patient room at St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital will serve as constant reminder to children and those who care for them, that they will always be in the heart of one kind farmer.
