(Albert) Ray Masterson (Albert)-Ray-Masterson

Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.

Many of you know Ray Masterson and his wonderful dog, Dawson.  And many of those who don’t know Ray personally will have seen Ray in his clown outfit at the Farmers’ Market on Saturdays, blowing up balloons for kids with Dawson lying there at the foot of his tricycle.  (See picture below.)  Others will have seen him (and Dawson) on the corner of St. Francis and Cerrillos every Friday (and I do mean EVERY Friday — rain, shine, snow, sleet, or dust-devils notwithstanding) from Noon to 1pm with his Veterans For Peace flag.  And others will have known him because of his community action:  Ray, who had been homeless himself for many years, was a driving force behind the creation of the Interfaith Community Shelter — a tremendous blessing for the homeless in Santa Fe.

A couple of months ago Ray went into a serious decline, and in the past three weeks tests showed that he had cancer all over his body, his lungs, his bones, his lymph nodes, and even his brain. Chemo would only make him sicker.  He entered home hospice care August 31.

Ray has no living family; a team of friends have been watching over him around the clock.  Saturday, September 8th he will enter Hospice care at Casa Real, 1650 Galisteo Rd. in Santa Fe.  Please sign up to visit him.  Ray, as you may know, is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps.   I hope  members of the VFP chapter will heed the Corps’ motto.

SEMPER FIDELIS !

Ken

PS — Many who have heard the news have asked what is happening to Dawson.  I’m glad to be able to tell you that many months ago Ray and I signed an agreement that if anything were to happen to Dawson, I would take him.  In fact, Ray had been planning to retire Dawson as soon as he could find a replacement dog, and it was agreed that I would give Dawson a happy retirement home.  I just wish this could have taken place under other conditions.


Please note:  Ray is choosing not to eat.  As of 9/7, he is still taking clear fluids.