Ray is a retired journalist, teacher and school counselor. He started out in the seminary, but worked in radio and TV for 10 years, before working in the public schools for two decades. His experience in photography and writing as well as getting to the heart of the cultures he and his wife Mary have traveled to have informed these gorgeous photo books. He his interest in research have helped build an Ancestry family tree with over 30,000 people, upon which the family books were put together.