Mrs. Charsa (Ailes) Raymond, DVM, 46, of Horseheads, N.Y., passed away peacefully at home on April 28, 2020, after a courageous, seven-year battle with leukemia.
Born in Fairbanks, Alaska, and raised on Chincoteague Island, she was the daughter of Irvin and Marilyn Ailes. She earned her Gold Award with the Chincoteague Girl Scouts in 1990 and helped teach swimming on the island as a Water Safety Aide for many years. She had always dreamed of becoming a veterinarian, a dream she turned into reality when she graduated from Virginia/Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine with a specialty in swine management. Though she treated the usual pets, she was the go-to vet for unusual pets and livestock. She loved riding horses with her family, hiking and camping, snorkeling, and playing with her houseful of cats and dogs.
Charsa loved adventure. She had been to all 50 states and most of the national parks, usually camping. She had visited most of Canada’s provinces, most of Australia, and New Zealand, Switzerland, Austria, Peru, Costa Rica, and many of the Caribbean islands.
Charsa is survived by her husband, Joe Raymond, and two daughters, Ceryl and Adalia Rubin, in Horseheads. Also in Horseheads are Joe’s son, Joe, and daughters, Anna and Emma. She is also survived by her mother, Marilyn Ailes, of Mappsville; her brother, Clinton Ailes, of San Diego, Calif., and his wife, Tina, and children, Aurelia and Beau; her aunt and uncle, Janet and Steve Shields, of San Diego; and her cousin, Jamie Lydersen, and her husband, Dan, and children, Alice and Kai, of Sacramento, Calif. In Indiana she has her uncle, Ken Ailes, and his family, and other uncles and cousins. She was preceded in death by her father, Irvin Ailes, of Mappsville.
At her request, no memorial is planned. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Strong Memorial Hospital, 601 Elmwood Ave., Rochester, NY 14642; a caring and outstanding cancer center.
