Remarkable 90 Year Old Vet

Raymond A. “Ray” Prell has no automobile like most guys his age, 90, but not because he has no driver’s license rather because he prefers to drive his motorcycle! Ray is a fixture at Barb’s Restaurant. Every morning he is there at 4:20AM to meet the girls as they come to work at 4:30AM. This crusty, loveable guy helps them setup and open every day. His presence there makes the girls feel a bit safer on the dark mornings.

To look at Ray one would think him to be in his mid-60’s but he will actually be 90 years old on 1 September. Ray was born in 1919 in New York State.  During WW-2 Ray served in the Canadian Army with the Royal Canadian Rifles, a crack mechanized infantry unit of the Canadian Army. He left them on a conditional discharge to join the U.S. Army’s 3rd. Armored Division at Fort Polk, Louisiana once the USA joined the war in 1942.

After his discharge from the Army Ray went to work for the Remington Arms Company, Inc. back in his hometown of Illyria, New York. Ray was trained as a machinist then as a technical specialist. Along with working at Remington he also farmed some and drove a truck. As a boy growing up in upstate New York, Ray was presented with his first motorcycle, a 1927, Indian prince by his dad. Ray has always owned Indians but has never owned a Harley-Davidson! Just a fact of life one must suppose.

While in the Canadian Army, Ray went home on leave and married his girlfriend, Mary O’Dell. In time they raised four children, two boys and two girls. He also has 2 children that are from a previous relationship. Ray is now the proud grandfather and great-grandfather of a slew of youngsters. Mary passed on sometime back but Ray continues to honor her memory by being a member of the Christian Motorcyclists of America (CMA). He is the mainstay of the local Pasco County Chapter of CMA.  Ray fixes, modifies, accessorizes and generally helps the members maintain their 2 & 3-wheel chariots.

Prior to serving in the Canadian and U.S. military services Ray was a summertime carnival worker with the Endy Brothers Carnival Shows, specifically with Jake Davis’s Motor-Drome Daredevils, a motorcycle show. While the carnival was doing some fairs in Canada, in Sherbrooke to be exact, Ray met and was recruited by the recruiting team from the Royal Canadian Rifles.

Ray is a one-of-a-kind man, having been a machinist, an inventor in the aero-space industry at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, a part-time grouper fisherman in the Gulf of Mexico, a part-time farmer, a truck driver and more. Once in Florida Ray worked for the Lykes Corporation as a plant maintenance mechanic.

This is a man with a young heart and mind who skydived for the first time 2 years ago and now wants to do it again! Ray carries a light heart, a deep reverence for God, a sense of American patriotism and a twinkle in his eyes that hints at his wonderful sense of humor. You can bet that Ray is online daily checking his e-mails, looking up references for parts whether for a motorcycle or one of his many wonderful model trains. This world has not left Ray behind as it has entered another century but rather is trying to catch up with him! I guess that I forgot to tell you that Ray is a model train enthusiast of the first rank! He builds and runs some of the best model trains around. At one time Ray was the close friend and compatriot of the late and very great “Mr. Model Train USA”, Chester Holley in Tampa, another grand-old gentleman.

Needless to say, Ray Prell belies our society’s the most commonly held idea that just because a person carries nine decades of time, experience and memories around means that they are decrepit or human vegetables! You can meet this amazing man yourself if you live inFlorida! Join with Ray’s friends and family by stopping by  Barb’s Restaurant located at 5017 Gall Blvd. Zephyrhills, FL, and leaving him a birthday card for his birthday on 5 September 2009, to celebrate this remarkable man’s 90th birthday!