THE RAY FAMILY TRAVELS THE

UNITED STATES

Have you made your resolutions for 2006? Are your Christmas exchanges and store returns completed? Are you still in the process of trying to tone down your things-to-do and see those friends you must visit? Well, the 2005 Holiday Season is just a memory for all of us, and along with you, I, too, will have some great memories to enjoy.

In the past I have listened to Mrs. Edith Ray talk about traveling to different states with her husband and children through the years. I have asked her to write a brief description of those visits. Mrs. Ray told the following to me.

Mr. & Mrs. Willie Ray and their three children have traveled throughout all of the 50 states except two -- Hawaii and Utah. Have you ever wondered how big this country is? Mrs. Ray and her family set out in 1961 to find out the answer by driving their car across the country to visit Willie’s father.

As Mrs. Ray waited to pick up her travel kit, the clerk suggested they stop and see some of the sights. She said she thought it over and decided to do just that and then invited her mother, Lula Henderson, to join them, along with their children, Delphina, Price and Monique.

The Ray family and Grandmother Henderson visited the Bad Lands and Mt. Rushmore and then continued on to the Redwood Highway on the Pacific Ocean side of the country, which was such a beautiful sight to view. Then they traveled on to see Creator Lake in Oregon.

Although Mrs. Ray told me she was not going to include all of the states that were visited at this time, she said she recalls their visit to the Grand Canyon, the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest. After those visits, she became a member of a grant committee and then she went on several other tours that took her to other states and completed her visit throughout the United States. Speaking about these trips has enabled her to talk of her husband, Willie, and her mother.

Mrs. Ray also explained that this is not the complete story of her travels because she has also traveled throughout 14 foreign countries. I will be contacting Mrs. Ray to congratulate her and the family on their tours taken over the years.

In closing this column, during the year 2005, you and I have had some good, sunny days and some low, dark, foggy days. You and I have patted our friends on their shoulders and our friends have patted us on our shoulders. Now, the Lord has given us breath to begin another year – 2006. So take a deep breath, push your shoulders back and continue to breathe as we start a new year. To all of the POV staff and my faithful readers and friends – Happy New Year! n