The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.

Meet Your Neighbor

by Shirley Linder, Quill Editor

Meet your neighbor, Ray Cavanaugh who is running on the November ballot for Circuit Judge. He lives in Gladstone, with his wife, five children, one dog, Jack and one cat, Charcoal in the former Judge Stephen Evans home.

Ray was reared in Kirkwood, the son of Jim and Rosalie Cavanaugh. Jim is a salesman for grain bins and grain handing equipment. Rosalie is a church secretary at Immaculate Conception Church in Monmouth.

In 1992, Ray married Kathy, in Monmouth. Kathy is a vice president, real estate lending at Midwest Bank of Western Illinois in Monmouth, where she has worked for 24 years.

Their daughter, Kasey Zavoral is an LPN in Charleston and her husband Patrick is a project manager for the Curry Corporation. They are the parents of Ray s only granddaughter, Zoey.

Son, Riley, resides at home and graduated from college at Loras with an accounting degree. He works in the trust department as Midwest Bank.

Son, Shane, also resides at home and graduated from Loras College with a degree in finance and manages Crossfit Lycurgus in Burlington, IA.

Daughter, Erin is a junior at St. Louis College of Pharmacy and son, Colin is a freshman at Loras College.

Ray s grandparents are T. James and Helen Cavanaugh who farmed 2 miles west of Monmouth and Gustave and Gertrude Schmit of Bartonville, who emigrated from Germany and Luxembourg in the 1920s. Gus was a coal miner and brick mason, Gertrude a seamstress.

He has two brothers and two sisters. Kevin retired as a Drug Enforcement Agent last month He is married and resides in Shreveport, Louisiana with his 3 children, the oldest daughter attends college at the University of Iowa.

Steve is employed by Shamrock sales. Karen resides in West Point, Iowa and is employed by the fertilizer plant and Diane, who has 4 children, lives in Davenport, Iowa where she a registered nurse, at Genesis Hospital.

Ray graduated from ICS Grade School, Yorkwood High School in 1983, Lorrad College in Dubuque, Iowa in December 1986, with a major in History and minors in Business and American Political Science. He attended law school at The John Marshall Law School in Chicago, graduating in January 1991.

From 1988 until November, 1991, he worked for the Cook County Public Defenders Office as a law clerk and later assistant public defender.

He became Warren County Public Defender from 1991-1996 and was the Assistant States Attorney from 1996 to November 2002. In November 2002, he was appointed to the office of Henderson County States Attorney and was later elected, serving for 7 ½ years. In July 2010, he was appointed Associate Judge in the 9th Judicial Circuit, where he has been assigned to all six counties in the Circuit for a minimum of one year and handled every type of case.

Ray attends church at Immaculate Conception in Monmouth, is a member of Knights of Columbus, West Central Education Foundation and the Eagle View Health Board.

His hobbies include reading history, watching movies and attending West Central High School sporting events.

Ray said special vacations have included two family trips to Destin, Florida.

Ray is currently running for Circuit Judge in the 9th Judicial Circuit in Knox, Warren, Henderson, Hancock, McDonough, and Fulton Counties.