01 April 2009

My Ray.


[Akron - One year on.]

Although I am perceiving that people are expecting 'something' from me today on the anniversary of Ray's death, I am quite unsure of what to say -- and am certainly unsure of what to do. I find myself reflecting quietly and cherishing every moment he & I shared. There are no pretty or poetic words that could begin to describe just how much I miss him.

As I find myself without much to say publicly, perhaps it would be okay to share the eulogy I wrote for Ray a year ago.

These words still reflect much of what I feel for Ray and paint a fairly accurate picture of him -- a truly wonderful man who had a profound & positive impact on the people around him. His death was a loss to us all. The world needs more like him!

Ray Boggs

Ray was persuasive and irresistible. He somehow convinced me, as I was gearing up to leave Atlanta and return to England, to drop everything and move to Akron, Ohio ... a place I knew nothing of .... except that Chrissie Hynde was from here ... and even she had run off to London decades before.

For me, Ray was all things orange ... random moments of love and life punctuated by the ringing of his mobile phone ... a compulsion for pickles ... and a more recent, worrying addiction to Starburst jellybeans.

Ray could fall asleep during any film but stay awake all day on a Sunday watching The Food Network.

He leaves behind dozens of mismatched flags from 20 years of Collage, a collection of shoes all over the house and the many greeting cards he’d buy for his mother and forget to mail.

In my mind, I see Ray falling asleep listening to his iPod ... in Baby Snoopy pyjamas (handmade by a loving friend), a shirt with a mustard stain (self-inflicted) and a knitted scarf (made for him by the mother of one of his students).

For a person who battled so much with his own body, Ray’s spirit was happy and free. He could be silly and make me laugh even at the worst of times. I will miss his silliness the most.

Many called him a friend ... some considered him a brother ... his students called him Mister Boggs ... to the guard girls, he was ’Daddy’... but to me he will always be my Boo Bean.

-- RICHARD IAN TRACY, 06 April 2008

No comments: