Obituary of Raymond Robert Bohy

At the end, Raymond R. Bohy, a U.S. Marine combat veteran of World War II and career Detroit cop, was too tough for his own good. After suffering several debilitating illnesses for more than a decade, Mr. Bohy died Saturday night at the age of 83. He was with his family. “Long after his doctors could find any reason why he was still alive, Dad lived,” said his son, former Detroit News staff writer Ric Bohy. “One of my sisters is a nurse, with years of experience in emergency rooms and critical care, and more than once she called him a medical enigma. One of his ‘healers’ told us a year ago that putting him back in the hospital for the umpteenth time ‘would be a waste of $50, 000.’ We knew he was wrong, of course, and fired him on the spot.” But Mr. Bohy’s family, friends and doctors all agreed he was one of the toughest guys they had ever known. Orphaned young, Mr. Bohy’s focus throughout his adult life was family, and it stood above anything else – although his career as a Detroit Police officer and his service in World War II always played a close second. While an underage teenager, Mr. Bohy wheedled an OK from his grandmother and enlisted in the U.S. Marines. He served active duty in the Pacific until the end of the war, after fighting as one of the Marines who took the island of Okinawa, a pivotal victory known as the last great battle of the war. “If Harry Truman hadn’t dropped the bomb,” he often told his family, “you all wouldn’t be here. We already knew after Okinawa that they were sending us as the first wave to invade Tokyo. They told us we wouldn’t be coming back. Period.” After he did, Mr. Bohy turned to supporting his wife – the late Patty C. Bohy, a former executive of the Engineering Society of Detroit – and three children – daughter Debra L. Talmage, of Hartland; his son, and daughter Gail M. Lippert, both of Sterling Heights. He joined the Detroit Police Department in 1955 as a 7th Precinct patrolman; was one of the first officers selected for the Tactical Mobile Unit, now known as the Tactical Services Section; and retired in 1980 as a detective sergeant in the 13th Precinct, including the Cass Corridor. “Many years ago, when I was a brand new street reporter, as a 21st birthday gift he took me out at night and introduced me to all his best sources on the Corridor,” his son said. “He told every one of them, ‘If you trust me, you can trust him.’ It was the best gift I ever got.” Mr. Bohy is also survived by eight grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, and several nieces and nephews. Memorial plans are not final, and the family suggests that any memorial contributions be made to the American Diabetes Association, Veterans of Foreign Wars, or the Salvation Army.