Christopher Fraim. My second oldest child.

To Ray. An Inspiration to so many young men who eventually became fathers.

 

Sent the below to Don and Taylor Stockdale, current Head of Webb Schools. Also, my brother Bill Fraim and Larry Ashton.

The letter is self-explanatory.

Again, I think it’s up to us to write the biography on Ray rather than others.

Thanks to all who’ve sent memories of Ray to me. Have inputed all of them into the outline. Happy to always share the outline with all.

Best,

John Fraim
Webb 67

* * *

Don,

What a great thread with the Alf stories starting from the “thumb” subject. Have inputed all of this and really added to the book. In many ways, I think that the book should really be written by Ray’s students. In some ways, similar to the book Chasin the Trane about John Coltrane. The book was great help in my writing my biography on Coltrane Spirit Catcher. The entire book was made from quotes of those who knew Coltrane. Such a good way to tell the story. So many great recollections from this recent thread started by you on the Internet. Yet, for age reasons, quotes of those who remember Ray really don’t go back much further than those who are in their 70s-80s now or Webb in the 40s to the 90s. Perhaps an email to this group for comments I can put into the outline? Just throwing out ideas on what I would really hope to be a new type of biography. Ray deserves this and all of us who remember this amazing person deserve to have his story told. In our own words is best.

The outline if pretty comprehensive now and you’re input of materials certainly has played a key role in all of this. Where does one stop in all of this?

A few years ago, I actually tried to write a screenplay or historic novel on the life of Ray. (Can fired off the first part of this if you are at all interested).

I think the challenge is this: how to approach a life that is so large and influential to so many people. It matters little to me whether this life was that of some politician or celebrity that might garner (today) a few million Twitter fans or Instagram hits or Friends on FaceBook. All it matters is to all of us who knew Ray and were influenced by him.

There are so many memories of Ray hanging from the pipes and walking up and down his imaginary steps.

But one of the greatest memories that I have of Ray was when I was brutally knocked out of bounds in a Webb varsity football game in 1966 and Ray was right there to pick me up and push me back into the game. It wasn’t the only game he was there for me. Cheering from the sidelines. Like he cheered for the sidelines for so many of us students of his. Whether at football games or elsewhere. He was there for so many.

I think that a biography on Ray could be an important document to many people and help them greatly in this time when help is greatly needed. Especially with our high school kids today.

Thanks to your help and many other Webb alums out there, this biography is in the process of at least getting outlined.

Maybe it will become a great biography and millions will know about Ray and the biography. Or, maybe it will just appease all of us who knew this amazing little man. Appease us in that his amazing, true story might be half told. Or, maybe it might be both. Who knows.

Again, thanks to you and everyone to contributing to this project. Always feel free to email me anything you might think of about Ray that comes to mind.

Most recent outline below. Thanks to many great comments from the “thumb” thread you started!

I guess that my comment on the above (so far) would be “If anyone deserves a new type of biography, it is Ray Alf.” Who better to write it than us?

John

PS … contact me for copies of the Ray Alf Outline or Story Development From the Outline.