Joseph George Ray was born on January 29, 1924, in West Warwick, RI. He was the third child of Frank and Mary Ray, both of whom immigrated to the US from the island of São Miguel in the Azores between 1890-1900. Ray married Mary Lillian Furtado on June 28, 1947, at Saint Anthony’s Church in West Warwick. The couple had one daughter, Marie, born September 3, 1950. Ray served in the US army during WWII from March 1943 to October 1945. He was assigned as an automotive mechanic while training in the 623rd Light Equipment Company in Mississippi before traveling to Liverpool, England and crossing the English Channel into Normandy on Omaha Beach. During his duty, Ray participated in at least 41 motor marches across Europe. He was honorably discharged in 1945 as a Sergeant and awarded the Good Conduct Medal and European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal Campaign Ribbon. Upon returning home to West Warwick, Ray began work at the Valley Lace Company as a lace weaver. He devoted a great deal of time in promoting the lace industry in RI as part of the Project Leavers Lace Initiative and by gaining the support of Governor Chafee in proclaiming May 1-6, 1966 as Rhode Island Leavers Lace Week. Ray retired at age 60 and took to woodcarving for some time until the onset of Parkinson’s Disease made this work too difficult. Ray wrote numerous poems about his life and loved ones and made significant contributions to articles written by Amby Smith for the Kent Daily Times. Many of his poems were featured in the newsletter run by the Villa at St. Antoines, the assisted living facility where he spent his later years. Joseph George Ray passed away on February 25th, 2012.
The collection contains Joseph George Ray’s original documents, certificates, photographs from his WWII service, poems, stories, letters, newspaper articles, religious souvenirs, information and pamphlets on the lace trade in Rhode Island, and correspondence.
Many of the records in this collection were organized by his daughter, Marie Ray Fraley, in preparation for the publication of her book, “My Buffalo Nickel.”
Rhode Island College Special Collections holds copyright to materials in this collection created by Joseph George Ray. The collection contains materials not created by Ray, which may be under copyright restrictions. Researchers are advised to contact Rhode Island College Special Collections for questions regarding permissions to reproduce, distribute, or otherwise publish material from this collection. Although Rhode Island College has physical ownership of the collection, it does not necessarily hold literary rights to all materials in this collection. It is up to the researcher to determine the owners of the literary rights and to obtain any necessary permissions from them.
The collection is open for research.
Joseph George Ray papers, MSS-0132, Special Collections, James P. Adams Library, Rhode Island College.
The collection has been arranged into the following series and subseries:
The collection was donated by Marie Fraley in 2023 and a deed of gift was signed by Fraley at that time.
The collection was arranged and described by Special Collections intern Ellen Cummings in 2024, under the supervision of Digital Archivist and Special Collections Librarian Veronica L. Denison.
Works used in preparation of inventory: Biographical information was taken from materials in the collection.
The following books have been separated from the collection and added to the Special Collections Rare Books Collection: "Loom & Spindle or Life Among the Early Mill Girls" by Harriet H. Robinson; "Killroy was Here: the Best American Humor from World War II" by Charles Osgood; "Images of America: Pawtuxet Valley" by Jeffrey Marc Kos (contains post-it notes placed by Marie Ray Fraley); "My Buffalo Nickel and Other Stories from a Portuguese American Life: the Life and Writings of Joseph George Ray" by Marie Ray Fraley
Materials in this collection have not been digitized.
This series includes Ray’s enlistment papers, religious souvenirs, photographs of Ray and other soldiers during wartime, Ray’s personal scrapbook, and a shadow box of military awards and items placed by Marie Fraley.
This subseries contains enlistment papers, religious souvenirs, photographs, and a shadow box pertaining to Ray’s WWII service. A majority of the items in this subseries were originally organized in a binder by Marie Ray Fraley, Ray’s daughter. Items in the shadow box were placed there by Fraley, and contain Ray’s dog tags, campaign ribbons, lapel pins, patches, and a photograph.
Oversized scrapbook containing tribute for contributions concerning Portuguese heritage in West Warwick, RI, Amby Smith newspaper articles about Francis Carley, Valley Lace, and the Hindenburg disaster, Ralph the Barber; Hurricane story; Hormidas “Meddy” Payette tribute; Photograph of Alfred Rey 1978 at Frontier Manufacturing Inc; Hindenburg recollection article; Sketch of the Ledge; Poetry Corner poems; Letters to the editor
This subseries contains letters to politicians, contributions to newspaper articles, handwriting samples, letters to Marie Fraley and her husband Dave Fraley, poems, and notes.
Materials compiled in a binder in preparation for the publication of her book, “My Buffalo Nickel.” Materials include poetry, original accounts, photographs, artwork, information on the lace mill where Ray worked, and Leavers Lace samples. The series is organized based on groupings in the original binder created by Fraley.