Obituary of Raymond Lee Lamb, Sr.

Raymond Lee Lamb Sr., Ph.D.

October 8, 1937 – July 20, 2024

Ray Lamb died peacefully in hospice. He was 86 years old.  While he had eighty-two wonderful years, the past four he had been battling dementia and eventually succumbed to a recent stroke.

“R.L.” was born in Atlanta and spent the majority of his life there.  He was a graduate of Murphy High School where he played football and made the All-Star team sharing the field with the likes of UGA standout and accomplished Auburn coach, Pat Dye.  He then attended Florida State University, where he played football for all four years on the varsity team.  He played alongside the famous actor Burt Reynolds, actor Paul Gleason from The Breakfast Club & Die Hard Movies and was even coached by ESPN’s Lee Corso.  Each year at Homecoming he got to rub shoulders with these old teammates, but you would never know because he never bragged about anything.  Except maybe when his Seminoles became a formidable opponent more than ten years after he graduated. He was also a proud member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity and enjoyed every single minute he lived in the Sunshine State. Ray was also a bit of an anomaly for a college football player.  He started both ways and was for sure the only math major on the team.  Once he realized pro football was not in his wheelhouse he pursued a career in teaching.  He earned his master’s degree from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and eventually his Ph.D. from Georgia State University.

Dr. Lamb began his teaching career at George High School in Atlanta, but after a short stint there he transferred to Dykes High School in North Atlanta.  This was probably the most enjoyable time of his teaching career.  He was the Defensive Coordinator for the football squad, the head wrestling coach and even oversaw the tennis team.  He spoke for years about the lifelong friends he made at Dykes.  One student even became his General Practitioner for several years.  After Dykes High School he moved to Northside High School (now North Atlanta).  He was Department Chairman there while also teaching night school at Georgia Perimeter college, formerly known as Dekalb Community College.  He enjoyed the Tuesday and Thursday night gig for multiple years.  Firstly, because he needed the money to raise his two high-maintenance sons and secondly because he made many friends with staff and even students who may have joined him for an adult beverage at Copperfield’s after what probably seemed like a never-ending 2 ½ hour night-time Calculus class. Ray Lamb was not your typical teacher, especially a math teacher.  He had more personality in his pinky finger than most possess in their entire bodies.  However, he was an awful joke and storyteller, but had that infectious personality that drew people to him.  

At the ripe ole age of 52 he retired with a full pension from the Teacher’s Retirement System of GA after thirty years of service.  This was not good!  He was driving everyone in the family up the wall.  This man was not lazy.  If you knew him well, you never saw him sit still unless it was watching a John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Bruce Willis or other Action / Adventure movie while eating straight from the tub of ice cream. So, his family sent him back to work.  This era of his life was the holy grail of what he aspired to be – a tenured professor at Emory University in Decatur.  He spent 20 years there socializing with what he considered to be the elite of academia.  While working at Emory he was then able to afford the finer things in life like traveling to Europe more than five times.  Continuing to treat his family to the annual snow ski vacations without maxing out the credit card and even started to buy NEW cars.  Not bad for a poor kid from Cabbage Town. Papa Ray spent the last 25 years living in the beautiful home he built on Jackson Lake where his parents had owned a small cabin on the same property since the early 1970’s.  He loved the open pit barbecue, the warm lake water, the local golf and an evening booze cruise to watch the sunset while enjoying a cigar or some Borkum Riff tobacco in his pipe.  

R.L. was preceded in death by his first wife, Patsy Garner Lamb and his son Raymond Lamb Jr. He is survived by his loving wife of 35 years, Berta Bird Lamb, children Robert Lamb, Lauren Law, Mitchell Moore and Chad Bird.  Grandchildren, Raymond Lamb III, Matthew Lamb, Eizabeth Lamb, Brady Law, Madolyn Moore, Bo Law, and Charlie Bird.

A Celebration of Life will take place on Saturday, August 17, 2024.

Those who wish may sign the online guest registry at www.sherrell-westburyfuneralhome.com.

Sherrell-Westbury Funeral Home, 212 E. College Street, Jackson, GA, is serving the Lamb family.