My oldest brother, Ray, at about age 16. Ray was a great older brother. He defended us littler kids to our father, who was often harsh and unreasonable. Ray was always generous and let us impose on him.

He married when he was still in his teens, and moved to Seattle.

Ray was the intellectual of the family when young; he wrote a column for the Auburn Globe News entitled "Postmark" (he was a mail carrier at the time). He was also athletic, as shown in this 1936 (age 11) photo of him (second from the left) with the Cass School (Cadillac, MI) basketball team. A few years later he earned a letter in hockey at Williams High School in Williams, Minnesota (we lived in Roosevelt). Most of the rest of the family eschews athletics.

In 1949, Ray abandoned his wife and children; none of us ever heard from him again. However, in 2001, his son Clyde and grandson Tom located Ray's death certificate. A remembrance of Ray written by some of his brothers and his sister is online.

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