It is with deep sadness that Rotary Club Bali Ubud Sunset [RCBUS] announces the death of a former member and that of an active member. Former member, Danielle Foss, died 20 April 2021. Active member, Ray Bishop, passed away on 27 April 2021. Both will be sorely missed.
Ray was born in Adelaide, South Australia on March 26, 1945. He played for the Australian Football League before moving to Canada. After a 17 year stay in Canada, Ray returned to Warooka, Australia. He was truly a “Renaissance Man,” who had mastered many professions. Ray was a professional football player and a trained butcher. He owned and operated a hardware store, a household goods agency, and a real estate agency. While in Australia, Ray became a member of the Hope Island Rotary Club.
After many vacations in Bali, he and his wife, Sue, moved to Keramas, Bali on a more permanent basis in 2010. They took a trip to Amed and were almost overwhelmed by the poverty and the lack of available medical care they found there. People of action, Sue and Ray dreamed of opening a fully equipped clinic to serve the needs of the people in the Karangasem Regency. They founded Bali Sehat, a broad-based community initiative providing remote village families in Karangasem with basic health care, nutritional education and prescription and non-prescription medicines. Please see www.balisehat.org. After literal years of Sue and Ray’s tireless work and the generosity of many people, Klinik Bali Sehat will open at the end of this month.
Sue and Ray joined a Rotary Club in Ubud which became RCBUS. Ray was one of RCBUS’ most active members. He made certain that all members adhered to The Four Way Test and chaired the Fundraising Committee where he tirelessly pursued fundraiser venues, raffle items and silent auction items to be used to raise money for the club’s many projects. Ray also loved to play Santa Claus for the children who attend RCBUS’ Christmas party. His annual renditions of Santa Claus from the time she was a little girl are his granddaughter Lauren’s most vivid memories of Ray. He was a kind, generous, fun-loving person who will remain in the hearts of all who were fortunate enough to know him.
Adam, Ray’s grandson, captured the essence of Ray when he wrote of his grandfather, “One day Pop and I were sitting in the front yard, enjoying a good old Australian meat pie. Sitting there on the bench, it was the most beautiful day. He gave off the most loving and heartfelt vibe, and one of the most genuinely nicest people someone would ever wish to meet. Whenever he would laugh, it would make everyone else laugh. And we loved every minute of hanging around him.”
Danielle Foss [Dani] was a bright beam of pure Rotarian sunshine. She was one of the founders of Rotary Club Ubud where she served as both secretary and then as treasurer. She subsequently joined RCBUS where she warmly greeted every member, perspective member and speaker with her engaging smile and cheerfulness.
Dani was born in Seattle, WA in the United States where she also went to college to pursue her interest in business, interior design and tennis. She and her husband, Rich, came to Bali and stayed. After joining Rotary, they became very involved in the Rotary projects that were developed to pump water to remote villages in the mountainous areas of the impoverished Karangasem Regency. The Club also worked with Rotary Club Ubud’s Rotaracts, a hard working group of people between the ages of 18 and 30 who were also interested in bringing water to the villages. It was Danielle’s job to act as a liaison between the Rotaracts and their expatriated US sponsor who also lived in Bali.
Friends of Rich and Dani remember her as “a very special lady”, “a wonderful and beautiful person”, “one bright star”, “a beautiful woman with a big heart and a lovely spirit”, “a beautiful spirit on earth”, “a wonderful influence”, and a “lovely and sweet person.” Dani could light up a room and the lives of those who knew her.
Both Ray and Danielle had a huge, indelible impact on the lives of the Balinese with whom they worked. Their actions will be formally remembered at the RCBUS workshop which will be held at the Firefly Garden in Taro on 19 June, starting at 10 am.
More information about RCBUS’ projects can be found at http://rotarybaliubudsunset.org/club-projects/.
If you would like to join this dynamic group of people who love Bali and work to help the people who live here, information to do so can be found at http://rotarybaliubudsunset.org/how-to-become-an-rcbus-member/.
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