George Raymond Lopp passed away peacefully on Wednesday, March 2, 2016, at Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett, Wash. Joint services for Ray and Bernice, who passed two weeks prior to her husband, will be held at 2 p.m. on Monday, July 11, at the Federated Community Church in Flagstaff. He was born Oct. 4, 1930, to Charles Benjamin Lopp and Iva Lorene (Evans) Lopp in Columbus, Kan. He had four brothers and two sisters. The family moved to Denver, Colo., when Ray was a boy, where they lived for a few years before moving to Holbrook. Ray graduated from Holbrook High School and he met Barbara Bernice Gill the following year. The two married shortly after; he was 19 and Bernice was 17. Their marriage would last over 65 years. He was manager of the Babbitt Lumber Yard in Holbrook and during this time, the two had three children. In 1965, Ray was promoted to manager of Babbitt Wholesale Building Materials and the family moved to Flagstaff to allow him to fill the position. His responsibilities included overseeing the chain of Babbitt Lumber Yards across northern Arizona and he advanced to a senior vice president position in the company. During his career in Flagstaff, Ray was active in the Flagstaff Chamber of Commerce, the Elks Lodge, Northern Arizona University Century Club and the NAU Business Advisory Council. In addition, he served on the first board of directors for the Northern Arizona Health Care Foundation, and served on the Flagstaff Medical Center Board of Trustees, the Flagstaff Medical Center Board for six terms, the First Interstate Bank Board of Directors and the Museum of Northern Arizona Board, was president of the Arizona State Lumbermen’s Association and was elected an honorary member of Beta Gamma Sigma. He will be remembered as a loving husband and father. Survivors include his daughter Sherry Lopp Ord of Everett, daughter Brenda (Dave) Brownell of Boise, Idaho, and son David (Tracy) Lopp of Ventura, Calif.; five grandchildren; nine great-grandchildren; a sister, Betty Ferguson of Flagstaff; and a brother Jerry (Jeanell) Lopp of Peculiar, Mo.
