Norway-Paris Kiwanis Club

The 66-year-old West Paris man died Friday morning at a Portland hospital, a day after he fell from an overturned sulky at the Oxford County Fairgrounds in Oxford and suffered a head injury.

As his friends and family mourned, they said the same thing: This man who loved everything in his life very deeply died while doing something that brought him great joy.

"It's tragic," said Mary Ann Brown, Ray's wife of 36 years. "But he died happy. He always had a love for horses and horse racing. He absolutely loved it. He talked about it all the time."

On Thursday afternoon, he was taking a horse around the track and riding in the sulky. "The horse bolted; the sulky tipped over," his wife said. She couldn't see him when it happened because there was a banking of dirt blocking the view. But when they saw the horse and sulky coming around and Ray wasn't on it, they ran to find him, she said.

He was flown to Portland and remained on life support through the night. After meeting with a representative from a donor organization on Friday morning, some of his organs were taken for others, his wife said.

"I was amazed at the number of people waiting for transplants,"she said. "Even in death, he's still giving."
A lot of things made Ray Brown happy, including his wife, two stepchildren he brought up as his own, sixgrandchildren and a great-grandson.

Add to that impressive list golf, smelting, baseball, long car rides and even mowing three acres of lawn even though his home only sat on 2.6 acres.

An Army man and a veteran of Vietnam, Brown was a member of veterans groups around the region. He was also a former coach of American Legion baseball.

Mary Ann said her husband once told her that when he was in Vietnam, he dreamed of coming home and taking long rides. When the two married, Mary Ann already had two children, 8 and 10 years old.

"He never used the term "stepchild" the entire time we were growing up," said Nancy, one of the girls Ray raised as his own. "We were always his children. He was just incredible. He would do anything for anyone."
News of his death was slow to circulate on Friday. When reached for comment about it, some were stunned.

"I'm shocked," said Kathy LaPlante, who knew Brown through the Norway-Paris Kiwanis Club. "He was just a really great gentleman."

"A good all-around guy," said Robert Sessions, who used to work with Brown in the building supply business.

Jim Alberi knew Ray most of his life, particularly through the Norway-Paris Fish and Game Club. Reached at home Friday night, Alberi said he had not heard that his friend had died. Like the others, he remembered Ray as a man with many passions.

"He was active in just about everything. He always had something going on," Alberi said. "He was one of the few people who still liked to go smelting."

Because of injuries suffered in Vietnam, Ray was not able to do all of the things he enjoyed, including smelting. To get to the good fishing spots, a person has to walk a considerable distance, and Ray's legs pained him.

"He really had to slow down on some of the things he was doing," his wife said. "But he was still upbeat. He was a very upbeat person."

She and her husband would have celebrated their 37th anniversary in August. On Friday night she was with her children and grandchildren, mourning the loss of a man everyone agreed was unique.
"He was one of a kind," Mary Ann said. "He just had a capacity for love that a lot of people don't have. He's going to leave a great hole in this community and in our lives."

Raymond “Rayzor” Arthur Brown, 66, died June 26 at Maine Medical Center from head injuries sustained while exercising a racehorse – living life to the fullest.

He was born in Berlin, NH on August 21st, 1942 to Vernon and Marguerite (Deegan) Brown. Ray graduated from Norway High School in 1961 and from Bliss College in 1963. His first job after college was shipping at Francine Shoe.

Brown was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1971. He earned many awards from his service in Vietnam including honor graduate of the 101st Screaming Eagles, Class 394 and a purple heart for injuries sustained while serving his country. He was discharged on July 1st, 1973. Once home, he joined the American Legion Stone Smart Post 82 where both he and his father served as Commander and from which he received several certificates of appreciation. He was also a member of the Veterans of Foreign Affairs.

Ray married Mary Ann Perham, mother of two daughters, on August 26, 1972. He always considered the girls as his own.

After the service Ray worked at Paris Farmer’s Union for one year, then Diamond International until it closed 13 years later. He continued to work in the housing/building industry, except for one year working for Bancroft Contracting at their Berlin site, until 1999 when he was determined 100 % disabled by the V.A.

Ray’s renowned work ethic began with mowing neighborhood lawns at age 9. He played for the Little Mites Little League team. He later earned the nickname “bender” in baseball, played basketball, was part of the Norway-Paris Drum & Bugle Corps and won jitterbug dance contests with Nancy Moore Mann.

One of his many loves was stock car racing at Oxford Plains Speedway where he was on Bob Tibbett’s crew. With the help of Willie Buffington, he was able to race in demolition derbies and Enduro races, winning an Enduro one year.

The return of harness racing to the Oxford Fair renewed Ray’s passion for horses and racing. He helped get the track in condition before each race and he “just knew” that the horses got good race time results because of the way he dragged the track. He was licensed with the Maine State Harness Racing Association and this year he began helping Buddy Burke with exercising his horses. This brought him so much happiness and he loved it each time he went to the track or to one of the races with Buddy or his son Joe.

Ray enjoyed golf, smelting, ice fishing, hunting, telling stories, working in the yard and flower gardens or just riding around the back roads of Western Maine. However his greatest love was attending the many sporting events and school programs that his grandchildren were in. He tried to make every event. His grandchildren were his pride and joy.

He was a member of Stone Smart Post #82 of Norway, the Norway Fish & Game Club, Norway-Paris Kiwanis and was a Director of the Paris Hill Country Club. He was a member of the area’s first technical school board and at one time was the West Paris representative on the Board of Directors of SAD 17.

He had a passion for American Legion Baseball and was the area Commissioner after Fred McLaughlin until he was no longer able to because of health problems. Needless to say he was an avid fan of the Red Sox, Patriots and Celtics.

Town & Country New Year’s Eve parties were organized by Ray for family and friends for many years, along with “watching the fireworks parties” at the races, Lobster Feeds at the farm, and any other excuse to get together. He was the social planner and life of the party.

Ray Brown’s sense of humor was notorious over the years, from entertaining nurses at the VA hospital in Togus to keeping a JOKES folder in his file cabinet. He wanted everyone to feel good and laugh hard. In spite of all his medical problems stemming from service injuries he remained devoutly patriotic, unjaded, and positive his entire life. His enthusiasm was contagious. He was one in a million!

Ray is survived by his wife; daughter Debi Irons and her sons Alex Waite and Phoenix McLaughlin; daughter and son-in-law Nancy and Jay Morrissette and their three daughters Courtney and Morgan McClean, Chocorua Morrisette, and son Wade Morrissette and his wife Michelle and their son Max; a sister Peggy Heikkinen and her partner Alan Hazelton; nephew Mike Heikkinen and his daughter Baylee; A beloved Aunt Genice Edwards, “sons” Mike MacGregor, Glenn Henderson, Dennis Fournier; and Rick McAlister “grandsons” Raymond MacGregor and Chris Jennings; and a very special family friend, Winnie Clark. He also leaves several brothers-and sisters-in law, many nieces, nephews and cousins along with more friends then one can count.

Family and friends are invited to attend visiting hours on Wednesday, July 1st from 2:00 to 4:00 and 6:00 to 8:00 P.M. with military services at 7:00 P.M. by American Legion Stone Smart Post 82 of Norway at Oxford Hills Funeral Services, 1037 Main Street, Rte. 26, Oxford, Maine. Funeral Services will be held on Thursday July 2nd at 1:00 P.M. at the First Congregational Church in South Paris with the Rev. Donald Mayberry officiating. Reception to follow downstairs in the church. Interment will take place at the Wayside Cemetery in West Paris with military honors being provided by the United States Army. In lieu of flowers friends are welcomed to make a donation in Ray’s memory to the Harold C. Perham Grandstand Fund, Town of West Paris, PO Box 247, West Paris, Me 04289.

Oxford Hills loses a friend