Andrea C. Ray, 48, loving wife, devoted mother, and faithful Catholic died October 14, 2008 at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington after a four year battle with ovarian cancer.
Mrs. Ray was born Andrea Maria Cerbins in Richland Center, Wisconsin and graduated from Monroe High School in Monroe, Wisconsin. She earned a Bachelors of Business Administration with a major in accounting from the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin. She was licensed as a Certified Public Accountant in Texas and Connecticut, and concluded a 20-year accounting career as a partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.
Mr. and Mrs. Ray began their professional careers and married life together in Dallas, Texas, where she was employed by Burch, Fincher & Company, a Dallas-based public accounting firm. In 1989, the couple moved to New York City where she joined Price Waterhouse LLP (which later merged with Coopers & Lybrand LLP). Mrs. Ray chose to leave the accounting profession in 2002 to concentrate on raising her young girls and supporting her husband in his career. She and her family lived in New Canaan, CT, from 1991 until 2003.
After moving to Mclean, VA in 2003, Mrs. Ray became active in the community, becoming treasurer of the Churchill Road Elementary School PTA, leading a Girl Scouts troop, and volunteering in religious activities through St. Luke's Catholic Church in McLean. It was through her close association with St. Luke's and the Catholic Dioceses of Arlington that she earned the Education + Parish + Service Certificate from Trinity College, Washington, DC in May 2005. The two-year Certificate program consisted of an integrated study of theology, scripture, Catholic Church history, spirituality, and practical application of the Christian faith. Mrs. Ray also completed, in November 2006, Person and Society, a six-week course offered by The John Paul II Fellowship, an initiative of the Catholic Studies Program of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, DC. She also taught religious education to school-age children through St. Luke's.
Mrs. Ray is survived by her husband of twenty-five years, Thomas J. Ray, who is Chief Auditor and Director of Professional Standards at the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board in Washington, DC; two daughters, Katherine Elizabeth and Rachel Marie; parents, Raimond and Felizitas Cerbins of Sun City West, Arizona; two brothers, Eric Cerbins (Judy) of Berlin, Wisconsin and Alfred Cerbins (Susan) of Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin; parents-in-law John and Shirley Ray of Savannah, Georgia; a sister-in-law, Stephanie Rose (John), of Sierra Vista, Arizona; two nieces, two nephews, two uncles, and numerous cousins, friends and other relatives.
Services were held Oct. 20, 2008 in St. Luke's Catholic Church in McLean, Virginia.
Mrs. Ray was born Andrea Maria Cerbins in Richland Center, Wisconsin and graduated from Monroe High School in Monroe, Wisconsin. She earned a Bachelors of Business Administration with a major in accounting from the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin. She was licensed as a Certified Public Accountant in Texas and Connecticut, and concluded a 20-year accounting career as a partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.
Mr. and Mrs. Ray began their professional careers and married life together in Dallas, Texas, where she was employed by Burch, Fincher & Company, a Dallas-based public accounting firm. In 1989, the couple moved to New York City where she joined Price Waterhouse LLP (which later merged with Coopers & Lybrand LLP). Mrs. Ray chose to leave the accounting profession in 2002 to concentrate on raising her young girls and supporting her husband in his career. She and her family lived in New Canaan, CT, from 1991 until 2003.
After moving to Mclean, VA in 2003, Mrs. Ray became active in the community, becoming treasurer of the Churchill Road Elementary School PTA, leading a Girl Scouts troop, and volunteering in religious activities through St. Luke's Catholic Church in McLean. It was through her close association with St. Luke's and the Catholic Dioceses of Arlington that she earned the Education + Parish + Service Certificate from Trinity College, Washington, DC in May 2005. The two-year Certificate program consisted of an integrated study of theology, scripture, Catholic Church history, spirituality, and practical application of the Christian faith. Mrs. Ray also completed, in November 2006, Person and Society, a six-week course offered by The John Paul II Fellowship, an initiative of the Catholic Studies Program of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, DC. She also taught religious education to school-age children through St. Luke's.
Mrs. Ray is survived by her husband of twenty-five years, Thomas J. Ray, who is Chief Auditor and Director of Professional Standards at the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board in Washington, DC; two daughters, Katherine Elizabeth and Rachel Marie; parents, Raimond and Felizitas Cerbins of Sun City West, Arizona; two brothers, Eric Cerbins (Judy) of Berlin, Wisconsin and Alfred Cerbins (Susan) of Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin; parents-in-law John and Shirley Ray of Savannah, Georgia; a sister-in-law, Stephanie Rose (John), of Sierra Vista, Arizona; two nieces, two nephews, two uncles, and numerous cousins, friends and other relatives.
Services were held Oct. 20, 2008 in St. Luke's Catholic Church in McLean, Virginia.