The two years my wife and I lived in Carson City Nevada - '81 & '82 were the most adventuresome years of our lives so far. My wife and I really enjoyed the different arid climate there. We spent a lot of time out in the pinenut desert mountains. We also bought a laundromat, and I worked in / out of a local glass shop. She joined the local chapter of Sweet Adelines as usual, and that's when we met Ray and his wife. They were the most decent, likeable, and talented couple we ever met. You see, Ray met his wife to be at a blackjack table in Reno when he was there on tour with a very popular musical group.
Ray was an extremely good sax player. The musical group discovered and hired him while on tour in Louisiana. He's a Cajun. This woman he met and fell for wouldn't have anything to do with him. He tried everything in the book at first - almost! He tried for days to get her to go out with him on a date. Nothing doing, he was a traveling horn player. Finally, he pulled a trick I'd never heard of, and that turned the tide. He approached her blackjack table one day before stage time and started in on his knees with, " Please, Sweet heart, please come home tonight. We miss you so desperately. The children have been crying themselves to sleep every night, and I can't take it any more. It's been almost a week now since you walked out on us, and I'll do anything to get you to come back home to us". Probably not his exact words, but as close as I remember their story to us.
The table was full of players, and at that point they were giving her the evil eye. She made the mistake of denying she even knew him, and then the enraged players got up, glared at her and left, mumbling snide comments. That did the trick, and she agreed to go out with him. Ray decided not to continue on to the next engagement with the musical group, and the two were soon married. Ray became a minister, and they lived a very happy life for just a few short years, and then tragedy struck. She was diagnosed with bone cancer.
They were devastated. Ray always worshipped the ground his wife walked on, and treated her like royalty. The last time we saw Mr and Mrs Ray Buford was at a special Sweet Adeline performance honoring Mrs Buford. She was going downhill fast, and Ray was pushing her around in a wheelchair. Ray played his saxaphone for us, and of the several tunes he played, We were bowled over by his fancy version of Yakkety Sax. Ray sort of kept to himself after her passing. We haven't heard from him since we moved away, but the Righteous Brothers had to find a new lead sax man after Ray Buford pulled the plug there in Reno when he met his wife to be.
Ray was an extremely good sax player. The musical group discovered and hired him while on tour in Louisiana. He's a Cajun. This woman he met and fell for wouldn't have anything to do with him. He tried everything in the book at first - almost! He tried for days to get her to go out with him on a date. Nothing doing, he was a traveling horn player. Finally, he pulled a trick I'd never heard of, and that turned the tide. He approached her blackjack table one day before stage time and started in on his knees with, " Please, Sweet heart, please come home tonight. We miss you so desperately. The children have been crying themselves to sleep every night, and I can't take it any more. It's been almost a week now since you walked out on us, and I'll do anything to get you to come back home to us". Probably not his exact words, but as close as I remember their story to us.
The table was full of players, and at that point they were giving her the evil eye. She made the mistake of denying she even knew him, and then the enraged players got up, glared at her and left, mumbling snide comments. That did the trick, and she agreed to go out with him. Ray decided not to continue on to the next engagement with the musical group, and the two were soon married. Ray became a minister, and they lived a very happy life for just a few short years, and then tragedy struck. She was diagnosed with bone cancer.
They were devastated. Ray always worshipped the ground his wife walked on, and treated her like royalty. The last time we saw Mr and Mrs Ray Buford was at a special Sweet Adeline performance honoring Mrs Buford. She was going downhill fast, and Ray was pushing her around in a wheelchair. Ray played his saxaphone for us, and of the several tunes he played, We were bowled over by his fancy version of Yakkety Sax. Ray sort of kept to himself after her passing. We haven't heard from him since we moved away, but the Righteous Brothers had to find a new lead sax man after Ray Buford pulled the plug there in Reno when he met his wife to be.
