John Raymond Dooley, Jr.

We regret having to inform you of the death of John Raymond (Ray) Dooley, Jr. on July 19, 2006. He passed way at the Exempla Colorado Lutheran Home, suddenly, of congestive heart failure, after a long battle with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, at the age of 80. Ray was born in West Denver on December 12, 1925, and lived here almost all of his life. He graduated from St. Joseph's High School in 1943. Between high school and undergraduate studies (during World War II) he served in the US Army Air Corps from 1943 to 1945. He received the B.Sc. degree in physics from Regis College in 1949, the M.Sc. from the University of Denver in 1951, and did further graduate studies in nuclear physics at the University of Colorado and the Colorado School of Mines. He was employed as an engineer with the Colorado State Highway Department from 1949 to 1951, was an instructor in physics for guided missile training at Lowry Air Force Base in 1951 to 1952, was a staff member of the Department of Nuclear Physics for the Sandia Corporation in 1952 and 1953, and finally joined the USGS as a physicist (and later titled as a nuclear scientist) in the Isotope Geology Branch in 1953. He retired from the USGS in 1988, after a 35 year career. During that time his research activities pertained to natural radioactivity and the geochemistry of uranium, uranium and thorium disequilibrium, health physics, uranium-234 fractionation, fission tracks, uranium-lead dating of uranium deposits, and he developed the radioluxograph for audioradiography of uranium and induced-particle autoradiography of lithium and boron. Ray was an outdoor enthusiast, and he also had a love of music. He played the saxophone and the clarinet in the Pick and Hammer Orchestra, and not infrequently the orchetra was one of the high spots of the P&H annual to semiannual events. He was an avid hunter and an amateur, but passionate, astronomer (he had his own telescope) and he loved to "chase" comets. He would have family members out at odd hours of the night, or morning, to observe some starry event. He had (and won) a battle with the local library when they constructed a sundial, because he proved that it was set to "daylight savings time"! He loved photography and was a strong and frequent hiker in the mountains, and admired the 14, 000 foot peaks of Colorado. He once said that he knew the elevation of Mt. Evans was incorrect, because he had measured it himself! Ray and Rosemary Julia Dollaghan, a native Denverite too, were married on December 27, 1952 at Saint Francis Catholic Church in Denver. Ray often said that that was the best Xmas present he ever got, and Rosemary said he just wanted to save money on flowers, as the church was already decorated! They have five children, four daughters and a son, who are, in descending chronologic order, Mary Kathleen Sexton, Patricia Anne Dooley-Strappelli, the twins Colleen Marie Mack and Maureen Catherine Elmaleh, and John Raymond (Sean) Dooley III. There are five grandchildren, five girls and three boys, ranging in age from 15 years to 1 year. Funeral services were held at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church, 12375 West 58th Avenue, Arvada, on Tuesday, July 25th at 10 AM, with burial at Mt. Olivet Cemetery. Donations in his name can be made to Samaritan House, 2301 Lawrence Street, Denver, CO 80205, (303) 294-0241, or to the Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers, 1800 Williams Street, Suite 200, Denver, CO 80218. Expressions of sympathy can be sent to the family at 7475 Miller Street, Arvada, CO 80005 or to the Horan and McConaty Funeral Home at 3020 Federal Boulevard, Denver, CO 80211.