A Death in the Family

"Many good men should weep for his death...."
--Horace, from Odes

On Friday afternoon, April 27, 1991, our friend, fellow writer and colleague, police officer, Ray Rexer, was shot to death in the line of duty.

I had spoken with him around noon that day. Ray had sent me a written interview and he had called me to tell me that he had gotten my interview responses, and that he wanted to follow up with a few more questions, I told him to call me that evening around seven o'clock. He said he would, and the way Ray was, I could have planned on setting my watch by the ringing of the phone. When 7:30 came and went, I somehow sensed that something wasn't right. It wasn't like Ray to forget to make a scheduled call. I found out the next morning just how "not right" things actually were.

Ray was a genuine gift to this planet. He was blessed with a sense of humor that very often deflated pomposity, and his irreverence was a shower of cool rain on the stuffy, muggy air of a popular culture that all too often took itself way too seriously.

Ray was my friend, and he was a huge help with The Shape Under the Sheet. He contributed an essay about his brilliant parody newsletter Castle Schlock; he allowed me to reprint excerpts from the newsletter at will, and he also contributed the terrific short story "Character Assassination", the title of which now holds a certain dark gravity, don't you think?

But I feel secure in saying that I don't think Ray would want tears. He loved life too much, and he had too much fun just being alive to allow us to spend time mourning. After Rays death, I even considered making some last minute changes in my remarks about Ray in The Shape Under the Sheet, but decided against it. Just as Donald Grant decided to let his comments in The Shape about his friend Joseph Payne Brennan stand after Joes death, so will my comments about Ray stand. They were written about a friend by a friend and so will not be made more somber because of Rays death.

But as friends who miss him -- and who will continue to miss him as the years go by -- mourn we must. Our loss is deep, and the pain is real. But now that Ray has gone on to something better lets also remember him with smiles. Lets remember the guy who signed his letters "Wray Wreckser"; the guy who was the "Ruler of the Kingdom of the Outrageous Pun"; the guy who invented a Stephen King cereal called SCARY-O'S, "for people who aren't afraid to eat right"; and the guy who created an actual crossword puzzle where every answer was the word. "King."

Thank you, Wray Wreckser, wherever you are, for your gentle manner, your sense of humor and your kindnesses. You were loved, and you will be missed. And as you now watch over your family and friends, take a minute to crack open a cold one and smile at the follies of life on the planet earth. You were one of its best citizens, and we're all the worse for your departure.

Rest in peace, pal.

--Steve Spignesi, Sunday, April 28, 1991

Ray, you made us laugh, and we'll really miss you. We love you. We're so glad you were our friend.

--Dave & Laurie Hinchberger, The Overlook Connection Press, April 28, 1991.

The Shape Under the Sheet: The Complete Stephen King Encyclopedia by Stephen Spignesi, 1991 p. xx