Meagan Faith Ray

Meagan Faith Ray, 31, of Louisville, died August 27, 2022, at the Hosparus Health Inpatient Care Center at Norton Pavilion Hospital after a brave, private battle with cancer. She was surrounded by her loving family when she passed.

Meagan was born on November 21, 1990, in Elizabethtown, KY. She grew up in nearby White Mills, KY, gifted and clever even in her earliest days. She attended Lindsey Wilson College in Columbia, KY, where she both expanded her education and forged lifelong friendships, and where she also met her partner and husband, Kendall Sewell. Meagan graduated from Lindsey Wilson College with a bachelor’s degree in English, and afterwards received her master’s degree in English from the University of Louisville. Meagan taught various English classes at the University of Louisville before beginning her work in finance at PNC Bank.

Meagan loved the city of Louisville and the rich joys of a big town. She adored taking family members to outdoor festivals like Abbey Road on the River, relished exploring all the museums and local restaurants that Louisville has to offer, and loved introducing friends to cultural treasures like the St. James Court Art Show or (free!) productions of Kentucky Shakespeare in Central Park. As much as she enjoyed the offerings of the city's arts, food, and culture, however, one of her other favorite things was also the relative peace and quiet of a sunny afternoon on her back porch in Old Louisville while jets thundered overhead.

Although she loved city life, Meagan also held onto a lasting appreciation for the formative experiences of life on the farm in White Mills. In her youth, Meagan helped raise and nurture animals, and she also participated in countless fairs, competitions, and 4-H programs alongside her sisters, storing up troves of treasured memories. The love, companionship, and peerless bonds of sisterhood were abiding comforts that Meagan took seriously all her life.

Meagan had an inimitable sense of humor; she also loved well-chosen words, clever ideas, good movies, hard books, and people who knew what they were talking about. Meagan always thought carefully and spoke softly but directly, and when she had something to say, you were compelled to hang on her every word.

She was preceded in death by her grandparents, Robert Orville and Mary Elsie Helm Keplinger; an uncle, Robert Eugene Keplinger; and an aunt, Beverly Keplinger Grimes.

Those left to cherish her memory include her husband, Kendall Sewell; her parents, Sandy and Paul Foran; her sister, Rachel Hope Ray; her sister, Alison Joy Ray (Mark Martin) and niece Eleanor Ray Martin; her uncles, Clyde Grimes, and Calvin (Aunt Paula) Keplinger; her aunts, Mary Lois (Uncle Don) Hill, Linda Sue Mudd, and Doris Keplinger; her parents-in-law, Chuck and Fern Sewell; close friends, Stephanie Barrett, and Jared and Taylor Criswell; and countless other loving family members and friends.

Services will be at Arch L. Heady and Son – Cralle Funeral Home in Louisville, located at 2428 Frankfort Ave, Louisville, KY 40206. The family will receive visitors on Saturday, September 3, 2022 from 1pm - 6pm, with words of celebration from family beginning at 5:30pm.

In lieu of flowers, Meagan requests that donations be made in her name either to the Team Eastern Kentucky Flood Relief Fund or to Lindsey Wilson College; in either case, she hopes that we can show how much we care for this state that we all love so much.