My lovely Uncle Ray has always had a very special place in mine and my families hearts. He was an extremely generous, warm hearted man who was a bit of a cheeky chappie too! When I was 7 years old, my family emigrated to Canada and Ray, June, Kim and Stephen welcomed us to stay in their home, over Christmas, until we found somewhere to live and helped us settle into our new home. I will never forget that magical Christmas morning when Uncle Ray opened the front door for us all to see Santa standing there shouting ho ho ho, Merry Christmas! We had so many wonderful times that we shared with him at family days out at the beach, parties and BBQs and at one particular party at Rays house, that he got me to try my first oyster. Bearing in mind, I was only about 10 at the time, I put the oyster in my mouth and Ray said with a big grin on his face, youve got to bite it to kill it! Needless to say, I did not know what to with it as I couldnt bear the thought of killing it and it would be rude to spit it out! Laughing at me, he came to my rescue with a napkin and disposed of it for me. After returning to live in England, I was delighted when Ray came over to celebrate my wedding day. It was great to see him reunited with his brothers and sister. He spent many an hour with my dad, his brother Doug, playing Frank Sinatra songs, which they both loved. Ray visited us again a few years later when my sons were young children and they both have very fond memories of all the fun they had with him. They are now almost 29 and 25 but still have a baseball bat that he bought for them and a $10 note that Ray gave my younger son for winning a bet over football (soccer). He made quite an impression! He also took my husband, Gerry, who at the time was a novice golfer to play on the Ryder Cup course at the Belfry Golf Club. Ray made the day so special and one that Gerry will never forget. I an so grateful that Gerry and myself had the chance to see Ray for one last time on a recent holiday where we stopped off in Vancouver as did my lovely sister even more recently. Uncle Ray was very special and had a huge heart. We will all miss him dearly and will look back on may years of fond memories that will always be treasured. We send all our love to Kim and Stephen at this sad time and hope that knowing how much their dad was loved and all the good times that have been shared, will bring you both some comfort. Love from Gerry, Fi, Kristian and James