Raymond Mace

Raymond was born in Isleworth, England on January 10th 1946 to Charles Raymond and Ada Mace (nee Goodwin). At the age of four, both his parents had passed away due to illness and Raymond found himself placed in a Dr. Barnardo’s Home in the south of London. A difficult transition for a four-year old, Raymond remembered the home as a medieval castle, but without the fair maidens and knights. The home could house up to four-hundred children between the ages of six-months to sixteen-years. Raised in this environment, Raymond’s formal education was varied and took second place to his instinct to simply survive. During his twelve years in the home, Raymond gained a great deal of knowledge and wisdom which he carried with him all his life.

On turning sixteen-years old, Raymond was persuaded to join the Royal Navy by a former First Officer, Sam O’Brian. A scallywag from day one, he was used to being away from a normal family home and took young cadets under his wing. He would often tell the story of his first day on board the HMS Kent where the Petty Officer told all the young cadets to walk along the deck and observe. Once they had walked it, he asked them how many rivets they counted, which of course none of them had counted, so the Petty Officer gave them buckets and brooms and told them to clean the deck and count the rivets! During his time in the Royal Navy, Raymond thrived and later moved to HMS Ark Royal as a Radar Technician.

Five years on, Raymond moved back into civilian life, got married, and had a son, Gary and a daughter, Ashleigh. He went on to work in the vending industry starting out as a Service Engineer where he worked his way up to Service & Operations Manager at Park Warren Vending. Raymond fondly remembered that while there, he and his manager, Brian Layton, chased some burglars in their car who had stolen the company safe. While they never caught up with them, the pair become known as “Starsky and Crutch” for their daring adventure.

In 1981 Raymond joined another vending company, Roboserve, as Research & Development Manager to work with their new vending machine, the Connoisseur. With his infectious personality, Raymond quickly became known as “Mr. Connoisseur” and he won several awards. Later, moving to their sister company Robobar, Raymond and his colleague Martin, took charge of a road show selling the company minibars to hotels throughout Europe. One night, stuck in the freezing Alps, they slept in the car, and he lost his sense of smell forever. After a year on the road, Raymond spent six months running the Paris vending branch, knowing only one phrase in French!

Still with Robobar, Raymond moved to the United States arranging installations in hotels in every state except South Dakota. Although he spent a great deal of time in the US, his children joined him during school holidays and several times he returned to the UK. He greatly enjoyed the opportunity to fly on Concord with the company CEO Elias Fatal.

In 1990 he was asked to stay in the United States for six months. During this time, he stayed in Columbia, TN, spending a great deal of time with a vending business owner, David, who became a very close friend. In August 1990, Raymond was awarded an Honorary Deputy Sheriff for Maury County by the Sheriff, Wade Matheney. Raymond rode in the Sheriff’s car and was particularly good at helping with the late-night revelers at the Maverick Club on Friday nights. Raymond really loved his time in Tennessee.

In 1994 Raymond returned to the UK and in February 1995 he married Christine in Mombassa, Kenya and they settled in Windsor, just outside London. They had met 10 years previously at Roboserve.

With his 25 years of experience in the vending industry Raymond used his talents where they were needed most. He established a training school for the vending industry, specifically providing training for unemployed individuals. With the aid of a good friend, Peter Harward, more than 600 individuals graduated his training school and were hired as Vending Engineer and Route Operators with vending companies around the UK.

An enormously proud moment for Raymond came in October 2004 when, for his training work, he was awarded the prestigious National Training Award competing alongside companies like IBM and British Rail. This was a highlight for him of his career.

Raymond still had a great love for the United States and he was ready for a new venture. In 2006 Raymond and Christine settled in Little River, SC and started a new company, Royal Maids. Raymond used his excellent talents again, meeting clients and providing quotations for the business while Christine managed the office. Each with their own strengths, they both once again quickly grew a successful company.

Raymond and Christine had always loved to travel, but later developed a love of cruising and travelled mostly to the Caribbean. One cruise took them to Guadeloupe where the highlight was a tour of the set of “Death in Paradise”, an English series. Raymond also loved cruising on the Queen Mary 2 and travelled three times on her, twice to England and once to the Caribbean for Christmas.

On a fourth QM2 trip, to celebrate his birthday in January 2020 with his children, Raymond fell ill. Needing major heart surgery, Raymond left the UK hospital and flew back to South Carolina. On the plane ready for takeoff, the Police asked him to come to the door and told him that the hospital had reported him missing! Ten hours later he was back in the USA. In February, Raymond underwent major bypass surgery which led to four months in recovery and rehabilitation before he could return home.

A special cruise to Hawaii to renew their vows on their 25th wedding anniversary were replaced with a vow renewal with their four closest friends at the Don CeSar Hotel in St. Pete’s, Florida, on Christine’s 70th birthday in December, 2020.

Raymond fell ill again in February 2021 and was suffering from kidney failure and Alzheimer’s. On Sunday morning, April 25th 2021 Raymond passed peacefully at home in his sleep with his cat, Duchess, by his side.

Raymond will be remembered by all for his unrivaled sense of humor, his many suits, colorful jackets, ties and outrageous socks. Some remember him as “the snappiest dressed man they ever knew”. Raymond always had a joke to tell, he was a larger-than-life character and enjoyed life to the fullest. He will always be remembered for the amazing person he was. Raymond was a fun-loving and kind man; always professional, immaculately dressed, had an infectious laugh and was generous.

A loving and devoted family man to his wife Christine, father to Gary (Justine) and Ashleigh (Mark), step father to Laura (Amanda) and grandfather to Joe, Steven and Chloe. Brother to Jean and Uncle to Alison. Raymond became a great-grandfather to Joe’s daughter Arabella Rose, of whom he was very proud.

A special thank you to his private Caregiver, Tina. She took good care of him for the last 12 weeks; whilst he was in hospital and then at home.

He will be sorely missed by his family; as a cruise buddy, his friends and by his constant companion Duchess, his Maine Coon cat, who never left his side in the final six weeks.

A memorial service was held at 11 am on Wednesday, May 12, 2021 at First Presbyterian Church, 3810 Robert M. Grissom Parkway, Myrtle Beach, SC 19577. The service is available to view on YouTube as the "Raymond Mace Memorial Service".

Memories and condolences may be shared at www.leefhandcrematory.com

Lee Funeral Home and Crematory of Little River/North Myrtle Beach is serving the family.