Tucson Ray Remembrance

Dear SA Fellowship:

I received word from Ray Stith’s wife that the trusted servant and friend to all of us, known as Tucson Ray passed away from cancer and declining health on June 21, 2018. When it came to prison work, Ray was the genuine, formative force. He started SA prison meetings, wrote the sponsor by mail approach that is currently in use, and created our protocol for how to approach prison officials. We are forever indebted to him for blazing the trail in service.

When I approached Ray about the SACFC Tucson Ray Audio Project, knowing his health was not good, I asked him if it might be too much. He laughed. Not only did he gladly agree to do the project, he 1) Recorded a 12-minute introduction CD that I presented to the Board of Trustees, who in turn, green lighted the project. 2) Typed an outline of the outreach questions, in order by topic.

Ray gave us 9 hours of spoken sharing. This is the testimony to the man’s life, his work on behalf of thousands of prisoners in recovery. I know Ray would be embarrassed to refer to his work and our calling as his legacy. But, there is no other way to say it, Ray. Deal with it!

Ray overcame a lot. No amount of darkness, bad luck, nor the fickle institutional policies of prison regimes, nor the apathy, nor the onerous and dangerous conditions that sponsees and prisoners face every day, nor aging, nor cancer could dampen his spirit of service. Kay Shotwell from SAICO says, “Tucson Ray served sexaholics in prisons for over twenty years. I think he deserves a kind mention in a future issue.”

He and his wife lived a quiet life in Tucson, AZ. May his memory be a blessing. He was a lovely man. We will surely miss him.

In lieu of the usual request for service, I suggest if you have particular fond memory of Ray, please post it to this group. Send email to sacfc@googlegroups.com

In gratitude,