My Buddy Ray Boy - by Ben Lane

Chris Ray. All of us have fond memories of you. I got to share some of my most memorable moments on this earth with you. I don’t really know where to start dude. I think I’ll start with the one at Johnny B’s known as “Windy Hill Woodstock”. HAHA. God we got “wold” that evening. You told me that night when I graduated fire academy that you would throw me a rager at the farm but I never asked you to do so because nothing ever would have topped that party off. If it weren’t for you and your skills of getting a crowd all worked up, it may have possibly failed miserably. Everything about you was funny, regardless of what was going on. The day we got caught in the rain on the greater nottaway and sat under the bridge for 3 hours…yea. Anyone else would have been ready to go, but you and I sat right there and drank natty’s and pretended we were the homeless guys on MTV crates (Mack C The Pimp) and laughed hysterically. By the way, big mama white is still probably swimmin’ round. This day of monsoon like rains was when me and you discovered the power of “little Syd’s”. With every sip we were coming up with genius ideas on how to catch those sketchy gar. It definitely didn’t work, but we ain’t care. We were having a good time.

We had many a good time in the woods and in the swamps. The day we went squirrel bustin’ and I introduced you to nest shaking was very memorable. One orange stack cap, a double barrel .410, one coors light, and three squirrels. How dude? Beer in one hand, a gun in the other with only two shots and you strike three bushy tails. You definitely were the man that day.



Then on to a duck huntin’ story.(when 87 reads this one, he will laugh uncontrollably) We all were bored one evening sitting around trying to think of something to do. So john says “let’s call D Boone and see if he has any greenheads we can spank”. So I get ole Daniel Boone on the phone and asked him about a hole and about how many was there. In these exact words” yea man…gotta right decent hole on back in the woods. Got bout a thhoouuusssaannnddd mallards in it”. God you gave him so much hell until that sun went down and it definitely was about that many in there.27 down.

Enough with the older stories now I guess because I’m getting my keyboard wet. I want to share the story Chris and I put in the books the last day he was with us. So I’m going to tell it from beginning to end.

…Thursday night I sat on the phone with Ray for about 30 minutes listening to him tell me about his gar rig that was going to catch em for sure. I told him I’d meet him at the boat landing as soon as I got off. So I laid in bed that at work anxious to go fishing with my buddy the next day. After about 5 EMS calls and 3 fire alarms I finally got some sleep. I got off about 7:45 and rushed home to change clothes and get my fishing stuff. I stopped at DQ and got us a biscuit and drove down to the Cypress Bridge Boat Landing. I was walking down to the boat and there he was, standing in the back of that 12 foot jon boat holding two bottles of “Little Syd’s” grapefruit and gin trying to say something, but I couldn’t hear him over that ghetto blaster pumping out 106.9 the fox. We set out up river and stopped at the hole. With a good four rods hangin’ out of the boat we were sure to catch em. Then all of a sudden while I was trying to rig something up, you get to hollering. I knew you had something nice on line so I get the net. Low and behold, you pull up the nastiest looking black fish I’ve had ever seen. You said “jammin, don’t you put that damn blackfee in this boat” and I told you to shut the chuck up and lets land his ass. We definitely did. That fish beat the hell out of me in the boat but we fixed that. Hung his ugly self off the side with ken’s bungee strap. Then we took off up river and ran into some shallow waters but I had no worries because I knew I was with the “Captain”. We started wading, pulling the boat thru sometimes 2-4 inches of water and sometimes even dry land. We gave up on the gar and blackfish and started fishin’ for bass and teddy bleme’s. By the time we got to the narrow’s, I bet we had had caught fifty bass and just as many bream. By far the best day I’d ever had on the river in my life. We headed on up river draggin’ the boat along talking about what we were going to do with our lives in the years to come as we fished along. We talked of how we were going to be like two old men sitting around flowers store in the mornings and sitting on the porch in the evenings drinking cold beer, then going to bed extremely early, just to get up and do it again the next day. We talked about buying homes and I told him I won’t gonna live anywhere unless it had at least two bedrooms, that way he could stay. And then as we got back in the boat he hollered across that motor and the ghetto blaster and said to me, “jammin’, you can tell our grandkids that Chris Ray is the navigatinest motha trucka on the nottaway riva”. I will never forget that. We made it to Shands boat landing and with the help of Cameron, we got his truck from cypress bridge and loaded up the boat and headed back to Wyanoke Lane. I took the blackfee to Dail’s, got the fish weighed and measured(10.2 Lbs, 33”) and got the ciatation paperwork filled out and called him to tell him the good news…

The story I just told is a story most people would talk bout for days on end. To me, this is a chapter of my life. A chapter that I will cherish for the rest of my life and this chapter my friend will be read and told to everyone. I wanna sit around like we talked about and tell this story years from now. I want my children to know who Chris Ray was and when my god son Ashton is old enough I will start with him. We also spoke of when the day came that either of us got married that it would be the wildest reception ever. You’re damn right. But buddy, the woman I find to marry is gonna have to deal with the fact that when I’m standing at that altar getting ready to say those words, there is gonna be a empty space right in between Andrew and Daniel Boone, along with John and a few others. Because I know you’ll be there in spirit and I want you standing right there beside me.

Well here I am, just getting home from cutting the old loop we used to cut and my ears hurt from listenin to the fox at max volume. Harris rd, Vicksville to Unity, on around to Tucker swamp, past the dick tree on to Clayton, back around to Drake on back to the home stretch. I had a decent Old Forester drink for you this evening and will continue to cheers to you like old times. Me,You and a somewhat endless supply of ice cold Natty Patty’s, wouldn’t have it any other way brotha. Keep us all safe as you watch over us. I can go through life now having no fear because I know you’ll be there holding my hand leading me through whatever life throws my way. Being in the public service just as you were, please watch close over me when it gets to be “Go Time” because you know how I am when it comes down to it. I’ll be right up in the thick of things, hottest fires, smokiest buildings and the most ghetto EMS calls imaginable. LOL. Ray I love you with all of my heart just as you were my brother and I miss you so very much.

P.S.
I promised big Ken that I’d take Cameron and Kevin fishing. Hook us up with some sweet fish and look out for us on the waters and in the woods. I’ll take good care of the 12 ft jon and be sure to fill the back full of beer cans every time I go just as we did.