The passing of John Ray is very sad news. He was a champion and an advocate fighting always for ensuring equality and justice for all -especially the visually impaired and the blind population.He was one of the founding persons of the AEBC and maintained a strong ties with this organization. He was interested in all subjects from sports to culture and history. He will be sorely missed.
Tom Teranishi
Vancouver, BC
This is truly sad news. John taught many of us the meaning of advocacy and the sense of justice that motivated him to work so hard is something we will all remember.
Alan Conway
John loved Bluegrass music. Sometimes when he’d come to Ottawa, we’d go off to Pressed cafe for dinner and a concert. We’d see some local musicians, such as Maple Hill and the Monroe Sisters. John tried to explain Bluegrass music to me, and said it involved the following: prisons, trains, cabins, broken hearts, murder songs, booze etc. John also came to the Ottawa Grassroots Festival both for real and virtually last year. I mentioned his recent passing away to the organizers of the festival, and they remembered him as a real folk music fan. If you are making a playlist, songs by Pat Moore (as part of Maple Hill and the Monroe Sisters) would make a wonderful addition. John met Pat at the concerts and she was delighted to see an out-of-town Bluegrass fan from out-of-town.
Shelley Morris