Ray Will Prevail

Actually, if you’ve been around Collegiate anytime in the past decade, you probably already know our friend Ray.

 

He’s the gregarious, jovial fellow whom you’ll find, sometimes at the wheel of his golf cart, delivering mail and packages to the various offices on campus. Often, his good buddy Claud Whitley – our longest tenured colleague – is riding shotgun.

 

If for some reason you haven’t crossed paths with Ray, you really need to. Time’s fleeting, though, for in a few weeks, he’ll retire, this time, he says, for good.

 

In his pre-Collegiate life, Ray served as a parts manager for Zenith Radio Corporation from 1975 until 1981. Then, he went to work for Philip Morris, first as a supervisor, then as a group supervisor, finally as superintendent of finished goods and direct materials before taking early retirement in 2007.

 

His initial attempt at a leisurely lifestyle didn’t take. Restless and, after six months, itching to return to the work force, he was scanning the classifieds one day, saw an ad for a part-time mail man at Collegiate, applied, and landed the job. After four years, his gig became full time.

 

“Ray’s our mail carrier and package deliverer,” said Wilbur Athey, Collegiate’s special events and projects supervisor. “He gets the job done. Rain, snow, sleet or hail, Ray will prevail. He’s a go-getter. He’s a self-starter. He’s a people-person.”

 

The “people-person” label is part of his DNA.

 

“My grandfather (John Dossett) had a great influence on my life,” Ray said. “He always told us, ‘You walk by somebody, you speak, you smile, even if they don’t speak back.’”

 

Ray grew up on Sweetwater Lane in the Three Chopt Estates subdivision of Western Henrico County and graduated from Douglas Freeman High School. Some of his fondest boyhood memories involved playing pick-up football with his buddies on a field off Tuckaway Lane, right behind the present-day Walgreens at the intersection of Parham and Three Chopt. He anticipated suiting up for the Rebels under the Friday night lights, but a series of knee injuries and subsequent surgeries scuttled that dream.

        

Fast forward to his golden years. For four falls, he assisted with Cub football at Collegiate.

 

“That was the best part,” he said of his coaching days. “I learned so much from Coach (Andrew) Stanley, Coach (Andrew) Slater, Coach (Spotty) Robins, and Coach (Jake) McDonald. And kids walking by you and still acknowledging you as a coach. That’s terrific. The kids are terrific.”

 

Talk to Ray even briefly, and you’ll learn that, in his estimation, everything about his tenure at Collegiate has been terrific.

 

“It’s just a great place to work,” he said. “If you could bottle it up, take it to Corporate America and show them how this flows, the world would be a better place.”

 

His career highlight, he said, occurred this past fall.

 

“We celebrated my dear friend Claud Whitley’s 70^th birthday (November 1),” he said. “At the (homecoming) football game (four days earlier), I escorted him to the middle of the field. The referee flipped the coin and gave him the coin. I actually had tears in my eyes because my buddy was so happy. God bless him.”

 

So what does this second retirement hold for Ray? Plenty, it seems.

 

He’s a 32^nd Degree Mason who’s a member of the Acca Shrine. This year he’s serving as the worshipful master of the Tuckahoe Masonic Lodge.

 

After a four-decade hiatus, he’ll return to the University of Richmond and take one math and one history course that will enable him to complete his undergraduate degree.

In 2019, he’ll have both knees replaced to remedy issues created by his old football injuries and a lifetime of wear and tear.

He’ll spent time at a home in Eastville on the Potomac River that’s been in his family for years. And he and Melinda, his wife of 46 years, will continue raising their 14-year-old granddaughter Emma, an 8^th grader at Swift Creek Middle School.

 

“She’s getting ready to start high school,” Ray said. “I feel like I need to be there for her.”

 

How, I asked Ray, would you like people to remember you?

 

He didn’t hesitate.

 

“I pride myself for honesty, integrity, and, if I told you I was going to do something for you, I did it,” he said. “If people can say, ‘I can depend on that guy,’ then that would be my legacy.”

    -- Weldon Bradshaw