What is your middle name? Does it carry any special meaning/significance?
Ray. The name on my grandpa’s mailbox in rural Odell, Oregon. J. Ray White. My mom and dad lived in a pickershack on my grandpa’s farm, and she drove past that mailbox many times.
He was a man to be proud of and the same in his name. I have known very few genuinely good people. James Raymond White, Ray to his friends, Grandpa Ray as I grew older, spent his working life doing maintenance for the Reynolds Aluminum plant, on the other side of the Columbia River in Washington.
He and Grandma Zee bought a small farm at the foot of the mighty Mt. Hood. When he retired, he puttered at being a small farmer and building things with random parts filling his barns. He kept his grandchildren engaged, and we farmed with him, played in his shop, rode up to the irrigation in his old and rare Wileys pickup, keeping it clean of deadfall.
He was a good man to me in a million other ways. So much so, I try to model my adulthood on his. Even sitting here, I have a warm feeling in my heart. I am forever honored to have his name.
Remain Lost 