Bill Ray (politician)

Bill Ray in 1977

William C. "Bill" Ray, Sr. (April 6, 1922 – September 9, 2013) was an American businessman, politician, and writer. Ray served as a member of the Alaska Legislature for 22 years (6 in the House and an additional 16 in the Senate) as a Democrat representing Juneau.

Bill Ray was born in Anaconda, Montana on April 6, 1922 to Eli and Marchetta Ray, who were of Serbian and Yugoslavian descent. Ray and his family lived in Montana, Idaho, and Oregon. After graduating from Wallace High School in Wallace, Idaho, Ray moved to Juneau, Alaska in 1938 with his family. He served in the United States Navy during World War II.

Returning to Juneau following the war, Ray worked as a bartender at the PaMaRay Club, a bar established by his parents along the busy "bar block" on Juneau's South Franklin Street. Eli and Marchetta had become known in the years following their arrival in Juneau as Pa and Ma Ray, hence the name. Ray also worked as a card dealer, a longshoreman and in commercial fishing. He would later go into business for himself in Juneau, owning and operating a bar, a liquor store, and a charter boat business.

Ray served as a Democrat in the Alaska House of Representatives in 1964 and then in the Alaska State Senate in 1970. In 2001, Ray moved to Sequim, Washington where he lived in retirement. In 2002, Ray wrote his memoir: Liquor, Legislation & Laughter: the story of a S.O.B. (Sweet Old Bill). He also wrote: The Hacker's Bible, about golf. Ray died of a heart attack in Seattle, Washington.

External links

• Bill Ray at 100 Years of Alaska's Legislature