Naomi Cox Ray

Naomi Gay Cox Ray, age 71 of Jefferson passed away Tuesday, May 13, 2025. She was born on June 19, 1953 to Robert Lee Cox and Rhea (Taylor) Cox in the old Taylor home place near Farmers Store at the foot of Pond Mountain. She was preceded in death by her parents, and a brother, Charles Cox.

Naomi graduated from Northwest Ashe High School in 1971 and worked for Sprague Electric until 1979 when she married Ronald C. Ray and moved to Charlotte, NC. During those years she worked for Century 21 Real Estate, PolyPro injection molding and Alcan Building Products in various office positions. The family moved to Jefferson in 2001 in order for Chris to attend Ashe County High School.

There, Naomi worked for Ashe Living Center, now Margate Health, Gates Rubber and most recently, GE Aviation, retiring in 2020. Naomi was a good daughter, wife, mother, nurse, teacher and a hard worker who cared about the performance of her duties.

She is survived by: her husband, Ronald C. Ray; a son, Christopher P. Ray and wife Lauren of Rock Hill, SC. She had one granddaughter, Ellison. Also surviving are three sisters, Alesia Osborne and husband Bobby Dean Osborne of Crumpler, Joyce Taylor and husband Junior Taylor of Jefferson, and Oneida Burleson-Dyer of Blacksburg, VA; and one brother, Robert (Sonny) Cox of Lansing, as well as many nieces and nephews.

Naomi and Ronald traveled a great deal, by vehicle as she was loathe to fly anywhere. Most of their travels centered in the Southeast but there were trips to Ohio, New York and Colorado. Not only did she accompany him on these trips, she also rode with him quite a lot during some of his golfing rounds, beginning just months after he took up the game. He took her to Pinetuck in Rock Hill on January 1st of 1987, while she was pregnant with Chris. She was his travel buddy, and good at that also, and Ronald will miss her greatly.

A graveside service will be held Saturday, May 17, 2025 at 11:00 am at the Taylor-Cox Cemetery by Speaker Ralph Ray.

The family respectfully requests no food or flowers please. Memorials may be made to the Ashe County Animal Shelter.