(Chelsea Update would like to thank Bob Milbrodt for the information in this story.)
The Chelsea Kiwanis Club recently heard from Rev. Kenneth Ray, Lt. Commander, U.S. Navy, who served as chaplain on the USS John F. Kennedy.
He related his unforgettable experiences in the service. The aircraft carrier was deployed all over the globe, from Boston to Beirut to the Arctic Circle above Norway while he was on board. He was one of three chaplains on the carrier, and the one who was dropped by a wire from a helicopter to the smaller ships that surrounded the carrier when they needed the chaplains’ services.
As chaplain, he found the sailors and marines willing to join in worship. So many that they outgrew the chapel and had to move services to a larger venue. He wanted to recruit a quartet, and got a choir. The men built an altar from some rough-hewn shipping crates. He was able to perform 60 baptisms during his service, and counseled over 3,000 service members.
He said he changed one sailor’s mind who was considering suicide by saying that the Navy didn’t care, as he was just one cog in the machine and would be replaced.
During training in the Sierra Nevada mountains for their deployment to the Arctic, the men could get leave to Reno. He warned the officer in charge not to begin the leave on payday, but his advice was not heeded. The officer was demoted after complaints from the men’s families about losing all their money at the casinos.
While in the Arctic, 50 miles from the Soviet Union, and with high temperatures of -20 degrees, he was really heartened when so many attended his outdoor service. Marching at night in the snow was a challenge. He was helped by air filled boots that kept his feet from freezing, but the snow was so deep he fell into the top of a buried tree.
Asked what got him to join the Navy, he replied that he had been working for the government, getting a GS10 salary when he got his call to serve in the ministry. After seminary, he joined the Navy to get more money. He was asked if he served sailors of other religions as a Methodist. He replied that he didn’t believe in the need for all the denominations, as we are all God’s children. He counselled Jews and Roman Catholics, even giving Last Rites, although never met anyone of Islamic faith while serving.
All his life he was blessed with a sense of humor. His mother called him euphemistically “an intelligent posterior.”
