CHARLOTTE — Ray-Eric Manuel Correia, 66, of Lexington, Va., passed away June 5, 2018, in Charlotte, where he worked as director of planned giving for the Diocese of Charlotte. He is survived by his beloved wife of 43 years, Kathleen Nowacki-Correia.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 12:15 p.m. Friday, June 29, at St. Patrick Church in Lexington, with Father Joseph A. D’Aurora, pastor, presiding. Guest homilist will be Father Gerald E. Murray, pastor of the Roman Catholic Church of the Holy Family, the United Nations Parish, New York, N.Y. Burial will follow at the family’s convenience at St. Aloysius Cemetery in Pottstown, Pa.
Born Sept. 19, 1951, in New York to Douce Rosette Fleming and John-Eric Corréa, he was raised in Manhattan’s French community, in the tradition of his family’s French heritage, and was bilingual in French and English. He attended New York’s Lycée Français, and graduated from the St. David School and The Trinity School there. At Trinity, he played soccer and was captain of the fencing team. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in French and history from Washington and Lee University and a Master of Arts in French language and civilization from New York University.
In Manhattan, Ray-Eric was headmaster and president of The Fleming School, formerly Ecole Français, where he also had served over a 15-year period as assistant director, admission director, dean of students, French teacher and coordinator of the French program prior to merging with The Calhoun School of Manhattan, where he directed the Fleming French Program. In addition, he held administrative positions at The Anglo-American School, formerly The Franklin School, in Manhattan. In Roanoke, Va., he was the first president/principal of Roanoke Catholic School, holding that position from 2002 to 2010, following his eight-year career as Upper School Head and French teacher, starting in 1994. He served the Diocese of Richmond’s Diocesan Office of Schools as chair of the Quality Assurance Board, responsible for accreditation within the diocese’s district of 30 Catholic schools, chaired Roanoke Catholic’s steering committee, 10 diocesan accreditation visiting teams, and was a member of four others, along with the AdvancED commission visiting teams. He was a member of Meitler Inc.’s Vision 16 Planning Board for the Richmond diocese.
Upon retiring from Roanoke Catholic School, he formed an advancement consulting LLC, Crossroads Advancement in Lexington, and through his work for a client, the Blue Ridge Zoological Society, became executive director of the Society’s Mill Mountain Zoo, an American Zoological Association accredited conservation zoo in Roanoke. In Lexington, he worked at Habitat for Humanity as director of marketing and development, prior to assuming his role as planned diving director for the Charlotte diocese.
In Lexington, he was a parishioner at St. Patrick Church, where he attended Mass in the 1970s as a W&L student and where his wife Kathleen is director of religious education. In Manhattan, he was a trustee of the Roman Catholic Church of St. John the Evangelist, where he and his wife were parishioners. He attended St. Thomas More Church there as a child, and received his first Holy Communion and confirmation at the French parish, St. Vincent de Paul.
In New York, he was a member of the Board of Trustees of The Anglo-American School, a headmaster-member of the Guild of Independent Schools, and vice president of the Independent School Multi-media Cooperative. In Roanoke, he was a member of the Kiwanis Club, a trustee and vice chairman of the Advancement Foundation, and vice president of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, Father Lynch Division. He also was a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.
Besides his parents, he was predeceased by his sister, Anita Keeler, and her son John.
Memorial contributions may be made to Camilla Hall (the retirement and nursing home of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary), Mission Advancement Office, 1140 King Road, Immaculata, PA 19345-0200.
Harry and Bryant Co. of Charlotte was in charge of the arrangements.
— Catholic News Herald