The Best Guy I Have Ever Known - by Daniel Vinson

Not a day goes by, not an hour passes, without me thinking about Chris Ray. He greatly impacted my life; I have so much that I want to say about him, but it’s as if the appropriate words escape me. I feel a certain inadequacy in writing this because I can’t possibly express my feelings for Ray. He meant so much to me and to so many others. Like so many of us, I have a lifetime of memories with him. Over the past weeks, these memories have run though my mind constantly, many of which I have not thought about in years. The strange thing is that the ordinary, seemingly forgettable times I spent with Chris are what I cherish the most about my friendship with him.

I realize that this has been said before, but it can’t be said enough, there is no one story that anyone could tell about Chris that could explain how special he was to everyone who knew him. When Chris was around, everything became a story. I know that the friends I have made in Georgia over the past few years have gotten tired of being constantly inundated with my stories from Southampton County, every one of which involved Ray. By the time he came to Athens to visit for the first time last fall, my friends, many of whom had never met him, already felt like they knew him. They quickly figured out what we all know so well, that Chris Ray made every situation a better one. He made everything more fun and enjoyable for everyone present.

Sitting down and remembering all of the times I spent with Chris got me thinking. I tried to remember the first time I met him. The truth is that I can’t remember. It could have only happened in one of two places, either the first day of kindergarten at the Academy, or the first day of Courtland Baseball. I honestly don’t know which came first. Every memory I have about Southampton County, about Shands, and about Home, he is in it.

Trying to write something like this about Chris Ray is problematic. The problem is that over the years, Chris Ray somehow became a part of me, and his memory will always be a part of me. I have so much that I can and want to say about him. But if I sat here and wrote all that I wanted this would never end. So, here is my best shot.

Everyone that knew Ray knows how great of a sense of humor he had. He loved a good story, especially if he was telling it. I feel it’s only appropriate that I share one of the stories he would often tell, where I was the butt of the joke. According to Christopher, I have a tendency to “breach.” During the spring of our sophomore year of high school, we went on the Academy’s Europe trip to Italy and Switzerland. I spent the whole trip rooming with Chris. From the time we stepped foot off of the plane until we left, Ray saw too it that he had a bottle of Jack Daniels in his book bag at all times. One night when we were in Switzerland, I came back to our room and found him asleep in his bed. I took it upon myself to have a few drinks of his whiskey. Soon, Mrs. Ray was banging on our door. She found the liquor and took it. From then on, Ray swore up and down that I had ratted him out and I became known as the “breacher.”

Another thing everyone who knew Ray knew about him was that he would go out of his way to do anything for his friends. I don’t hunt or fish very often, but Ray would take me with him anytime I wanted to go. The only times that I have hunted during the past few years have been with him. We went duck hunting several times. He always insisted that I use his good pair of waders and he took the ones that leaked. So while we were out there in the wee hours of winter mornings, I was warm, well at least as warm as I could be, and he was freezing. That’s just the type of person he was.

Ray also had a tendency to make light of any situation. We were fishing in the Nottaway one summer, and we could see a storm approaching. We decided that we could wait it out on the shore, underneath a tree. It turned out to be the craziest storm I had ever seen. Lightning was crashing all around us, and I was freaking out. I looked at Ray, and it was obvious that he was thinking the same thing I was, something bad is about to happen. Then he said, “Don’t worry ‘bout it, it ain’t nothing but a little squall.” Then and there, in the midst of a hurricane like storm, we both started laughing uncontrollably, and we did not stop until the storm had passed.

Out of all the time I spent with him, there is one memory about Chris Ray that will always stick with me. At the end of this past summer, I was riding back from Nags Head with him. Nothing out of the ordinary happened on our way back, but that’s just it. It was an average, run-of-the-mill trip with Ray. We never stopped laughing. That is how I will always remember him. Chris had the uncanny gift of being able to make everyone laugh and to make everyone happier. I, like so many others, miss him unbelievably. I do my best not to cry when I think of him, but I can’t help it. All I can do is feel blessed for the time God gave him to us.

We love you Ray, and we will always miss you. I know that you are our Angel watching over all of us now, and we will be with you again.

- Daniel Vinson