Biographical Information
on Dr. Roger Ray
Biographical Information
on Dr. Roger Ray
Youth and Adolesence:
A significant part of my Florida life was water skiing, and I started skiing for spending money at Cypress Gardens by the age of 14. Before retiring from my 4 year "professional" career as a show and tournament skier, I had become U.S. National Champion and had established a series of world distance jumping records for the 14-17 year old "boys" division of the American Water Skiers Association (my scrapbook page covers much of this period).
More Biography is Available:
I was born in New Castle, Indiana, March 20, 1941. By the time I started first grade we had moved many times but had finally settled in Kokomo, Indiana, where my father and mother had built one of the early fast-food drive-in restaurants, called Ray's Drive In (still in operation today on Kokomo's north side). Fast food didn't sell well to curb-side customers in the middle of winter, so by the time I entered 5th grade we were closing the Drive In for the winter; spending from Thanksgiving to Easter in central Florida (Winter Haven) waiting for the snow to thaw so we could reopen for another season. I systematically transferred schools between Kokomo and Winter Haven from 5th through the 8th grades. By that time, drive in managers and Florida house-and-teen sitters allowed me to stay in Florida all year. I thus went to high school (grades 9-12) exclusively at Winter Haven High School and graduated in 1959.