Celebrating the Life of Ray Anderson
My father, Ray Anderson, knew a lot of people throughout his lifetime. If you are reading this you were, most likely, one of them. Growing up, and to the day we lost him, he would tell us stories: about these people; about the places he had been; about the experiences he had there. Normally, he would tell these stories with a wry smile on his face, or a small chuckle to punctuate his sentences.
Though we heard stories from my father throughout the years we knew him, I know that there are so many stories that went untold and that he will now never get to tell us.
As the people who feature in these stories, I would like to ask you to please share your stories, memories and experiences of him. It would mean a lot to me, and the rest of my family to be able to read them and share in your time with him.
My father wasn’t always around growing up, he worked away a lot and so the time we got to see him was a time to treasure. There are still things I did as a child that were completely synonymous, to me, with my father. Swimming is one of them. He would be the person to take us swimming almost exclusively, both to our swimming lessons on a Sunday morning (which we would leave via the vending machine for a hot chocolate) and to a different swimming baths, just for fun. There he taught me how to lane swim, to twist under the water and come round to continue my lengths, to dive in to start, coaching me on keeping my head between my arms and bringing my toes to the edge of the pool. He would also encourage me and my younger brother to swim under water and hold our breaths by swimming a length underwater himself with us holding on to his back, and letting go when we were ready. We would do this when on holidays in America too, I remember him water skiing with my older brother round a lake in Florida, giving him pointers on how to improve his form on the skis.
These memories, and many more are so special to me, and I hope to be able to share in the memories of my father that are special to you.
— Emery (Ray’s Daughter)
Memories of Ray
Please use the comments box to share your happy memories, stories and experiences with Ray. We also welcome you to enjoy reading through the stories shared by other people who knew him. We hope that through this sharing of memories, we can come together to celebrate the life of Ray Anderson. We thank you in advance for any contributions you make.
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After multiple promises/ requests to go in Loch Earn or waterski Samuel was on his 500th “change of mind” so Paul and I picked him up by arms and legs and quite vigorously swung him pretending to throw him in. Ray had clearly had enough of getting a young Samuel in and out of a dry wet suit and when I looked at him gave that wry smile of his and gave permission for Paul and I (Andy) to let go! To see the look of disbelief on Samuel’s face at these irresponsible adults was priceless along with the sense of thanks from Ray. It was reassuring to hear Samual looks back fondly on Loch Earn (if maybe not that event) and is looking to take his family there. Maybe history will repeat itself 😉
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