C. Ray Huggins, former head of Student Health, dies

9:26 a.m., July 26, 2012--Dr. C. Ray Huggins, 92, of Wilmington, Del., died July 22. 

Dr. Huggins served as medical director of the University of Delaware's Student Health Services from 1976 until his retirement in 1990. 

He was born in Cumberland, Md., on December 24, 1919, son of the late Cecil Ray Huggins and Marion King Chatfield Huggins. During the Great Depression in 1930, the family moved to Andes, N.Y., where he graduated from Andes Central School in 1937. He would go on to graduate from Cornell University in 1941 with a bachelor's degree in chemistry and from Cornell University Medical College in 1943. 

While taking postgraduate training at the University of Chicago clinic, Dr. Huggins married Virginia Anderson Reynolds on May 26, 1944. 

Dr. Huggins served as a captain in the U.S. Army Medical Corps during World War II, earning his honorable discharge in November 1946. Returning to civilian life, he practiced medicine in Margaretville, N.Y., from 1947 until 1972 as a member of the staff of Margaretville Memorial Hospital. From 1972 to 1976, he was a member of the medical staff of the Mary Walker Clinic at the New York State College of Oswego, N.Y. 

He was preceded in death by Virginia, his wife of 64 years, in 2008; a sister, Marion H. Watson; and a brother, V. Russell Huggins. He is survived by his son, John R. Huggins, and his wife Cinthia of Lebanon, Pa.; daughter, Sally H. Johns, and her husband, Lloyd, of Elkton, Md.; granddaughter, Kristin H. Hummer, and her husband, Craig, of Elizabethtown, Pa; grandsons, Thomas R. Huggins of Alexandria, Va., Nicholas R. Johns of Philadelphia and M. Samuel Johns of Ft. Lauderdale; great granddaughters, Lara Hummer and Taryn Hummer; brother, Kenneth R. Huggins and his wife of Oneonta, N.Y.; sister, Florence H. Casselman, and her husband of Ballston Lake, N.Y.; and sister, Mabel L. Huggins of Scotia, N.Y. 

A funeral service will be held at 1 p.m. on Friday, July 27, at St. James Episcopal Church, 55 Lake Delaware Drive, Delhi, N.Y. Interment will follow in Andes Cemetery, Lower Main Street and Coulter Brook Road, Andes, N.Y. 

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, c/o CHOP Lockbox, Lockbox 1352, P.O. Box 8500, Philadelphia, PA 19178; or to the Andes Cemetery Association, Attention: Sharon Drew, Lower Main Street, Andes, NY 13731.

Condolences may be left online.