A Life Story

Peter Terrell Ray passed on December 7, 2024, at Candler Hospital in Savannah, Georgia after a long illness.Peter was born in White Plains, New York on April 19, 1946, to parents George Wesley Ray and Mary Helen Jones Ray. Peter has a brother Montfort S. Ray, a retired attorney in Statesboro. They lost a sister, Patricia Ray, who passed away in 2018.Peter grew up in Savannah, Georgia and graduated from Savannah Country Day School in 1964. He then graduated from Wofford College in 1968, having majored in Psychology.After college, Peter joined the U.S. Army and fought for his country in Vietnam from 1968 through 1971. He was stationed in Thu Bai as an Artillery Specialist. After his honorable discharge, Peter acquired a degree in horticulture from the University of Georgia. He then began a long vocation as a small-scale famer and lover of ornamental plants, a passion he apparently inherited from the mother who was the long-time Chairman of the Savannah Park and Tree Commission and the long-time President of the Garden Club of Georgia.In 1980 Peter obtained a master's degree in social work from the University of Georgia, and during the 1980's he provided individual and group therapy to children, adults and families in Georgia, North Carolina and lastly Colorado where he met and soon married Linda Cordes Ray (wow! what a babe!). On September 19, 1993, Linda gave birth to Natalie Taylor Ray. Natalie was, as always will be, the apple of Peter Ray's eye.Peter was passionate about investing, a talent he learned from his father, a career stockbroker with Merrill Lynch who knew more about stock picking than Carter ever dreamed of knowing about liver pills.Visitation will be held 12:00 p.m. until 1:00 p.m. Friday, December 20, 2024, with a Memorial Service at 1:00 p.m., in the Hodgson Chapel of Fox & Weeks Funeral Home, 7200 Hodgson Memorial Drive, Savannah, GA. Interment will follow in Bonaventure Cemetery, 300 Bonaventure Road.Remembrances may be made to Hawthorn Heights, Inc., 656 Black Hill Road, Bryson City, NC 28713.