Funeral homes often submit obituaries as a service to the families they are assisting. However, we will be happy to accept obituaries from family members pending proper verification of the death.
Ray James Klebba died May 9, 2026, at home in White Salmon, Washington, from the effects of lifelong asthma. He was born July 12, 1946, to Ed and Lucille Klebba in Chicago, Illinois. He is survived by his wife Shelley Baxter.
Ray worked his way up from a seven-year apprenticeship to Journeyman GCIU Union Pressman, running newspaper presses. He worked at the Sacramento Bee in California and the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Ray was the building director of the Minnesota Canoe Association, where he met his wife, Shelley. She was in the White Water Chapter and taught him white water kayaking and he taught her how to canoe. They took many wonderful canoe camping trips in the Boundary Waters. They went on adventures sea kayaking on Lake Superior and sailing their boat up the BC coast.
Ray and Shelley moved to the Columbia Gorge in 1998 so that Shelley could pursue her love of windsurfing after Ray retired. Small town White Salmon embraced Ray and his White Salmon Boatworks shop. He built cedar strip canoes, kayaks and rowboats. Folks came from around the Northwest to learn to build wooden boats in his boat building school.
When he wasn’t building and paddling boats he was pursuing his other love, downhill skiing. They traveled in their little Toyota RV all over the west visiting many ski areas.
A celebration of life will be Saturday, July 11, at 1 p.m. in Hood River, Oregon, at the Rockford Grange, 4262 Barrett Ave.
Columbia Gorge News, June 10, 2026
To plant a tree in memory of Ray Klebba as a living tribute, please visit Tribute Store.
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism
that is degrading to another person. Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness
accounts, the history behind an article.
(0) entries
Sign the guestbook.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.