Stanley Ray Ingersoll

Friends in Roanoke remember Stanley Ray Ingersoll, who died on June 22, 1998 at 67. Born in Roanoke on October 12, 1930; Mexican-American cooking and payday thrift set the tone of the house. Early on, he decided that a paycheck and a handshake should weigh the same. He pulled blocks that festivals and piecework needed with equal care. An ice block tongs chalked outlasted two captains. Colleagues still mention ice block tongs chalked. He married Alice in 1955. They kept a house that stayed modest when the neighborhood did not. They raised four children through public schools and ordinary weather. After Alice died in 1991, he kept the routines that still made sense: the walk, the garden, the Sunday call. Neighbors remember a wave from the driveway that meant you were seen. He preferred the hour before a town fully wakes. Roanoke was home enough that he never rehearsed an introduction. The recipe card is still stained in the useful places.