(An extraordinary event took place at Birnam Wood (a private gated enclave in Montecito carved out of what had been a citrus farm) last weekend. It was an invitation-only gathering to commemorate the life and death of a longtime Santa Barbara/Montecito resident. Organized and headed up by Mary Gates, a close friend of both Ray Winn and Ray’s partner in life and love for more than 38 years, Peter Kevoian.
Some 120 friends and relatives from Santa Barbara, Montecito, and around the world, dedicated their Saturday afternoon to attend a “High Tea” in memory of Ray, who passed away at the age of 92. – J.B.)
High Tea
{In 2017 Ray and Peter went on their last vacation together. Peter knew it would likely be their last one (Ray was confined to a wheelchair at that point), and they had barely survived the bridges of Venice and cobblestone streets of Croatia. They ended their vacation in London and decided to indulge themselves. They took a suite at the Ritz Hotel for a full week. Ritz suites come with full-time butler service. At first, Peter thought, “That’s nice, but completely unnecessary. I mean, who needs a butler? Well, it turns out that I do. Like five times a day. After a few days with our butler Jeremy, I couldn’t tie my own shoes.”
The first day at the Ritz they had a high tea and Peter recounts, “As you know no one does it like the British since they invented it. It is performed with military precision and Ray absolutely loved it. The livery worn by the waiters, the flowers, the delectable treats in that gorgeous 18th century room. So, Ray said to me ‘Peter, why don’t we sell all of our assets, pay the taxes, and take an apartment here at the Ritz?’ He went on to say, ‘We can enjoy this level of service every day of our lives until we run out of money, at which point we simply kill ourselves.’ I said ‘Ray, you had me interested in your little plan all the way until the end of that story.’ But that was Ray – he cherished tradition, history, and elegance. His wit was always delivered with effortless precision.” – P.K.}
Ray was both brilliant and creative; he was a composer and an adventurer, a writer and an author. He was a serious man who had a childlike mischievousness. For example, he put a mathematical equation on his license plate called the Avogadro’s constant; 6X10E23. (actually 6.02214076 ×1023 mol−1. It acts as a bridge between the atomic and macroscopic worlds, relating molar mass to real-world measurements; it is one mole of atomic matter.)
Ray loved deeply and was steadfast in his loyalty to his friends and this country. He was a proud Republican and could not understand why every American wasn’t.
He was a pilot and a sailor. He owned several planes and boats over the years. His achievements were many. If you indulge me, I can walk you through some of the poignant moments and important accomplishments in his life and career.
Ray was born in Price Utah in a coal mining town to a Mormon mother, five brothers, and a father who worked in the mines. When his father abandoned the family, the mining company put his mother and brothers out into the snow and locked the door to their one-room company house. The next day, his youngest brother died from exposure to the extreme cold. The Mormon Church rescued the family and relocated them to Las Vegas Nevada. There, his mother worked tirelessly taking on two shifts as a waitress per day.
The Airline Owner and The “It” Girl
Ray’s brilliant mind was on full display before age two. He spoke in complete articulate sentences. At age three, he was fascinated by how anything mechanical operated. His mother explained that it was electricity that powered these devices and it came out of the wall through electrical plugs. Ray grabbed a knife and stuck it into a socket. He got a jolt that knocked him off his tiny feet. He didn’t pout or cry. He just got angry.
His grandmother gave him a toolset so he could figure things out on his own. “Here’s the toaster, take it apart and put it back together again,” she said. And he did just that. The vacuum cleaner and anything else he could handle was next, so he could comprehend their function. He quickly understood how AC and DC currents worked.
As a young child he got his first paper route. It was the way boys in his day made money. Ray was different, of course. He chose a paper route that no other paper boy wanted, on the rich side of town and a paper boy’s nightmare. The lots were large and the houses were set way back. It took twice the time to deliver the same number of papers in that area as a typical tract of homes. He couldn’t toss the papers to their doors, so he decided to hand deliver the paper into his client’s hands or at their doorsteps.
This simple act put into motion two transformative events. First, he met the founder and CEO of Bonanza Airlines, a start-up Las Vegas air carrier. This man was so impressed with this industrious little red-headed boy and his sweet smile that he began to give Ray stock in Bonanza Airlines as tip money.
Later, many years later, Ray would cash in that stock and purchase his first house.
The second meeting was even more transformative. He met Clara Bow on his route. She was the First Lady of silent cinema; the original IT girl. She was a beautiful vivacious blonde and did her own stunts in those days. She won the very first Academy Award for acting, along with the entire cast (which was how the award was given at first).
Clara was not the bubblehead image portrayed by the Hollywood machine. She was, in fact, a scholar. She read the Greek tragedies in Greek. She spoke French fluently. She was obsessed with classical music. She collected every Columbia RKO classical album ever produced. She built an entire wing onto her home just to house the voluminous collection. She didn’t allow anyone into her inner sanctum.
Ever.
And then Clara met Ray.
She was smitten by this sweet little boy who got off his bike and handed her the paper. She invited him in, gave him lemonade, and learned that he loved music. So, she began to play classical music for him on her piano. Later, she gave him the only other key to her sacred inner sanctum where she spent hours every day listening to all the great composers’ symphonies. Ray would come and go into her studio daily, listening to every record and learning, remembering, every piece of music he heard, the name of the composers, the names of the conductors, and any discernable differences between the various orchestras around the world.
Whether it was the London Philharmonic or the orchestra in Prague, he knew the subtle differences. His iron vault memory recorded every note played. He fell in love with classical music in the third grade. A love affair that lasted Ray through his entire life.
Ray and I used to play a game. When we drove to our place in Las Vegas, I would play esoteric pieces of music to see if he could name them. I could never trip him up. He never made a mistake. Not once in 38 years.
On to EG&G in Los Alamos
In high school, Ray’s mother was always working and always gone. Angie was a darling woman. She told me directly she couldn’t really keep track of her own children. She just wasn’t home. She told me they were in God’s hands.
She took a rare day off from work to attend a special meeting about Ray requested by the student counselor. She went to the meeting completely ignorant of how Ray or any of her kids were doing in school. She sheepishly asked, “is Ray doin’ alright?” She thought perhaps he was in trouble. The counselor was astounded. He responded, “Mrs. O’Neil, you really don’t know what’s happening with Ray, do you?” She responded simply, “No.” He went on to tell her that “It’s not how Ray is doing in school but how we are doing as educators. That’s why you’re here today. We have given him all senior-level college curriculum books. He has completed all the course work. He has a better command of math and science than our own instructors. He has taught himself how to play five different instruments without lessons or instruction.”
As these things go, word got out about this brilliant boy at Las Vegas High. The counselor spoke to the principal, who spoke to the Chamber of Commerce and then local state representatives. It was decided that Ray should skip college entirely and work with the PhDs at Los Alamos Labs in New Mexico.
They figured out a path for him to do this through employment with a private contractor named EG&G (Edgerton, Germeshausen, and Grier, Inc.)
Prior to going to New Mexico, he married Lorraine, his high-school sweetheart and best friend that he had met in band class. Lorraine was a brilliant girl in her own right with a 160 IQ. They played in the Las Vegas Symphony together and ultimately had three children and years later three wonderful grandchildren.
Once in Los Alamos, Ray went on to file for and receive 33 patents in nuclear weapons design and several patents for advancements in photography principally used to capture the first images ever taken from the surface of Mars.
Shortly after that, Ray was nominated and won as the Outstanding Young Man of the Year for the State of Nevada. Then he was nominated as one of the ten outstanding young men in the U.S.
Touring With Bobby Kennedy and John Glenn
He went on a speaking tour across the United Sates with Bobby Kennedy and John Glenn. Bobby Kennedy became Attorney General of the U.S., and John Glenn, an astronaut. Ray became a top executive with EG&G a defense contractor and ultimately had management responsibility over 14,000 employees.
John and Ray became good friends on that tour. After John Glenn successfully orbited Earth for the first time in 1962, he honored Ray by giving him the watch he wore on that trip through space, to thank him for his friendship while on the speaking tour.
Ray oversaw the private technology side of Area 51 in Nevada, alongside the Commanding General. Ray’s job was to develop stealth technology. When President John Kennedy took a tour of Area 51 for the first time, it was Ray in the helicopter with him explaining why EG&G chose that site.
Ray launched a private airline to transport incognito the hundreds of civilians needed to do the important work in Area 51. He named the airline after the General’s wife, Jane.
It is still in business today.
Country/Western Music Producer
After Ray was done with corporate life he sought a change, a complete change; something totally different to do and something fun. So, he started a Country-Western music studio to produce the next big hit album. He discovered two talented singers named the Perry Sisters in Boston. He produced their first album (“Feelin’ Country”) that got to number two on the Country-Western charts.
It was all going very well; they had a bright future together, until Mona Perry ran off with the drummer and her sister, Sally, ran off with the guitarist. And that brought a quick end to his dream of being a Country Music producer.
Santa Fe Restaurateur
Ray moved to LA to start over. A friend of Ray’s who was aware of his technical gifts, asked Ray if he could solve a serious problem in the manufacturing of semiconductors. Intel, at the time, had invented a highly condensed high-speed semiconductor that performed multiple operations simultaneously.
It was revolutionary.
The problem was that no one could produce it in volume.
Ray, listening to the technical issues and challenges involved figured out the solution almost immediately. Which was astounding, because Dupont, IBM, Intel, TI, Microsoft and all affiliated companies in this business had teams of scientists trying to come up with a solution. Yet Ray, listening to the problem for the first time, understood how to fix it.
Ray went on to invent the Pellicle, which made the manufacturability of Intel’s Pentium chip possible. The Wall Street Journal stated that Ray’s invention was as important to the advancement of computer technology as the invention of the transistor.
And yet, with all these accomplishments, I think that Ray’s proudest achievement was starting a fine dining restaurant in Santa Fe New Mexico. He came home one day and said “Peter, what do you think about starting a restaurant”? and I said, “That’s a terrible idea; restaurants go out of business.”
But I knew him well enough that I said, “You should do it because otherwise you will have regrets having not tried.” Well, in true Ray fashion, Geronimo Lodge was born in 1989 and was an instant success. It continues to delight foodies to this day.
When I ate there for the first time, I had to be honest with Ray. I told him I didn’t care for the bread that they served; I thought it was a bit boring. He agreed. And – literally – the next day he purchased a commercial bakery. The restaurant had amazing bread after that.
In closing, while I remain utterly shattered, I know that we were both lucky guys. We became better people because we met each other thirty-eight happy years ago.
The last time Ray spoke to me was at Cottage Hospital. He didn’t have much time left. Speaking was almost impossible. He had no strength left. His last, almost inaudible words, were “You are my hero.” And then he closed his eyes and never spoke again.
In his final hours, I put my EarPods in his ears so he could listen to his favorite Mozart compositions. As he took his last breath, Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik was playing; that was his most favorite of all the pieces of music Mozart wrote.
•••
Peter then thanked everyone who had attended Ray’s memorial, especially, “The Birnam Wood family, and the doctors and caregivers who selflessly attended to Ray’s every need twenty-four hours a day: Dr. Jones, Dr. Mezipan. Dr. Bechtal, Dr. Gundry, Marybeth with VNA, Netty, and Patricia; and so many, many, more that made up our medical team.”
Peter saved his last individual praise for the woman behind this very special Birnam Wood event: “Saint Mary,” he called her, explaining that he redesigned Bob and Mary Gate’s historical Montecito home several years ago. “Little did I know,” he said, “that another angel had just entered my life. Mary has been there every day for my mother while she was with us [before she died], and then with Ray.”
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