Promoted to Glory: Major Raymond Grider

Major Raymond Grider, Jr. was promoted to glory on Friday, Nov. 4, 2021. Raymond was born in Frankfort, Ky. on May 7, 1939 to Raymond and Ruth Grider. Later, his family moved to Lexington, Ky. in 1949 and moved into the house that once housed The Salvation Army. Very soon, he found The Salvation Army a few blocks away and started attending Sunday School. Raymond later was enrolled as senior soldier and was a bandsman.

Ray married his wife, Elizabeth on June 20, 1959. She worked as a bookkeeper for The Salvation Army and Ray worked in the furniture industry. In Sept. 1961, during the Berlin Crisis, Ray received his draft notice. Rather than be drafted into the United States Army, he joined the U.S. Air Force and, after six months of training, he was assigned to the Charleston Air Force Base, Charleston, S.C.

While in Charleston, Elizabeth was hired by Captain Jack T. Waters as the bookkeeper/secretary and they both were very active in the corps. It was during that time that God reaffirmed Ray’s call to officership. It was in May of 1957, at a Youth Councils in Cincinnati, Ohio, he first felt the Lord’s leading in his life. They entered The Salvation Army’s Training School in 1966, along with three-year-old son Tim, and were commissioned in 1968 as part of the Messengers of the Faith session of cadets.

Ray and Elizabeth served together over 37 years. They were appointed to Durham, Smithfield, Burlington, Charleston all in the Carolinas as Corps Officers. At DHQ, he was Divisional Accountant, Assistant Financial Secretary, then Financial Secretary in NSC, then ALM Financial Secretary, NSC Divisional Secretary, KT Memphis Area Commander, Memphis Winchester Corps Officer, during the same time, THQ Associate Secretary Audit Dept., Territorial Audit Secretary and ARC Command Financial Secretary before retiring. Ray also worked post retirement in the ALM Division and was a great help.

He is survived by his wife Elizabeth Grider, three children Tim Grider, Christopher Grider and Amy Grider Mattiauda, along with their spouses and several grandchildren and many family member and friends.