Ray married Rebecca Reeves when they were 18 and 17 years old respectively.  Their first son, James Raymond, was born about a year later.  As a side note, Jim's first daughter, Doris, was born when Jim was eighteen, so Ray and Rebecca were grandparents when they were still in their mid thirties.

We don't have information on the years between Ray's marriage and the outbreak of World War I, but in 1917 Ray took a job with the C & P Telephone Company as a supply truck driver.  Eventually he became a telephone installer, an occupation he worked until his retirement in the mid 1940's.  But as prestigious as his position with the phone company was, Ray had four children to feed, and the pay did not quite stretch.  He found he had to work evenings and weekends as an usher at the Apollo Theater on H Street to keep the food on the table.  Eventually, though, his career with C & P provided a comfortable living for him and his wife, and a good pension for Rebecca after his death.  Ray and Rebecca remained in the Washington, DC, area for their entire lives, frequently spending time at their vacation beach home in Sylvan Shores at Reba, Maryland.

Ray's death in 1947 came after abdominal surgery.  Although the surgery was successful, Ray was plagued by a severe smoker's cough, and the strain on the incision proved too much.  He died on a Thursday and was buried in Ft. Lincoln Cemetery the following Saturday.

Last updated: July 2, 2000