FridaySeptember 03, 2010
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Tuesday, April 26, 2005 Jason Ray remembered as friend, entrepreneur By Chuck Sterling Jason Ray wasn’t being a daredevil when he made the fatal decision to paddle his kayak over a dam on the Snake River, his friends said last week. They remembered Ray as an experienced and careful boater, a helpful friend and internet entrepreneur who loved life and bobblehead dolls. Ray, 30, of Annandale drowned Sunday, April 17, when he went over the three-foot-high dam and the strong undertow upset his kayak and pulled him under. He was wearing a life jacket. The accident happened east of Pine City in Pine County, where Ray and four friends were on a weekend boating trip. Ray was part owner of the building that houses Tanya’s Gifts on Main Street and lived above the store. Longtime friend Cory Wipper of Clearwater was a casket bearer at Ray’s funeral on Thursday, April 21, in Monticello. Down the Mississippi He wasn’t with Ray April 17, but they had kayaked and canoed together and shared many boating trips down the Mississippi River, Wipper said. “He knew what he was doing. He wasn’t a novice by any means. He knew what he was doing out there. “If he made the decision to go over it, then I’m certain that he felt it wouldn’t be a problem.” “He always took time to think things out,” Wipper said, “and he knew exactly what he was doing.” Kevin McGough of Annandale, another longtime friend, said Ray would’ve been careful about going over the dam. “His nature was to be careful about that.” Wipper said he and Ray graduated from Monticello High School in 1992 and had known each other since their sophomore year. “He was always very helpful,” Wipper said, likening Ray to the character in army movies who can always find a way to get something. “That was him.” “He’d find a way to do it for you and never asked for anything in return. He just wanted to help.” Tanya Rudkin of Tanya’s Gifts said she couldn’t change the light bulbs in her shop because the ceilings are so high, so she’d call Ray. “He’d be down in no time flat and put them in.” Rudkin has rented the space for nine years from Ray and building co-owner Gene Kiphuth. “I thought the world of Jason,” she said. “He was kind of like an adopted grandson. “You never saw him depressed or down. You never saw him negative,” she said. “He was always positive.” Ray had a lot of ambition and was always on the go, Rudkin said. “He was a real entrepreneur. I told him you’ll be a rich man someday.” According to Rudkin and others, Ray dealt with bobblehead dolls and other sports memorabilia, selling items on the internet and at shows like the Twins Fest in February. He founded Bobbleheaddolls.com. He once drove to Chicago to get some bobbleheads at a ballgame, Rudkin said, though he didn’t watch the game. She has a Jesse James bobblehead that Ray gave her a few years ago when he was selling them at an event in Northfield, site of the famous 1876 bank robbery. Purple People Eaters According to an obituary, he was most proud of obtaining contracts for and manufacturing bobblehead dolls, including the four famous Minnesota Viking Purple People Eaters: Carl Eller, Alan Page, Gary Larson and Jim Marshall, plus quarterback Fran Tarkenton. Ray and Kiphuth ran a video rental store called Cardinal Video before Tanya’s located there. Ray also delivered the Minneapolis Star Tribune in Annandale for many years. McGough said Ray was a likeable person who had a lot of friends. “He’s going to be missed by all of us.” | ||||
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