My deepest condolences for the loss of my Hero Ray Evans, Ray and I met 5 years ago at a Tacoma Chapter meeting with his lovely wife and Treasurer Dottie. We have been close friends ever since, even after he had retired from working with the Chapter he continued to support me and my knowledge I will always cherish his advice he gave me on restoration and preservation of our native trout and salmon. He shared his love of fly fishing and even gave me his cherished Sage fly rod a gift that will always have a special place in my heart. He was as close to me as a grandfather could be and enjoyed our conversations we had about my recent activity that we had planned for the year. He was always first to volunteer his time and experience helping assemble the fishing rods each year for our kids fishing events. When I made the announcement of his passing this past week at our State Council meeting many longtime friends and colleagues, shared many memorable stories about our hero. He was a very gentle and kind man who held almost every position within our council and was a great asset to us all. We will continue his legacy of volunteerism and heroism and will remember our dear friend in our hearts always. I even received an email from our CEO of Trout Unlimited Chris Wood the night he passed sending his condolences to the family. He had sent the email at about 1am his time. That really opened my eyes on how many people Ray had touched in his lifetime. Rest in peace my friend your work is done here. Heaven has another great fisherman up there now, Goodbye for now.
Rosendo Guerrero
President
Tacoma Chapter of Trout Unlimited