On May 18, 2026 Ray Levias, a Seattle Prep classmate of mine, passed away.
He was, for all who knew him, a truly unforgettable human being.
At Prep, he was an exceptional student-athlete, a cornerstone of the back-to-back undefeated state championship football teams in 1965 and 1966.
Ray was known for his electric speed, instinctive play making, and quiet intensity.
He was inducted into the Seattle Prep Hall of Fame on December 13, 2025.
He brought both excellence and humility to the field, carrying himself with a grace and deep respect for others that defined his entire life.
After graduation, Ray he went on to a distinguished career in the United States Air Force. Over the course of his service, he completed multiple tours of duty in Europe and the Balkans and long service to the Pentagon. He later taught at Harvard and MIT, ultimately retiring with honor as a Lieutenant Colonel.
Ray and his wife, Joyce, shared 49 years of happy marriage together before her passing in 2024, the same year Ray was diagnosed with ALS.
Throughout this difficult final chapter Ray faced his illness with the same unwavering resilience and dignity he had shown throughout his life. Many of his classmates shared many precious moments with him before his passing.
Our class is grateful to Keith Blume and others who established the Ray Levias Endowment which will enable his legacy to live on at Prep.
💐
Allow me to share a few of my own memories of Ray.
I came to Prep in 1963 from Queen Anne Hill, an all-white neighborhood. Ray came from the Central District, a largely Black community.
Before Ray, my closest contact with someone of a different race was a Japanese gardener who worked on the Hill.
Ray was the first Black person I ever truly knew.
By the luck of the draw, in our freshman year, Ray and I sat across from each other.
- Conversation came easy.
- Life was just as perplexing for him as it was for me.
- Our humor jibed, and we had plenty of laughs.
We formed our first real bond racing each other in the 50-yard dash. Ray was so gifted that he never had to kill you in competition, so those races only brought us closer.
Ray introduced me to his world. I met his whole family in their big house on 19th and Cherry. His older brother, Nelson, would invite us over to his apartment to listen to records, where I was first introduced to soul music:
- The Temptations
- The Supremes
- Smokey Robinson
- Marvin Gaye
His music became my music.
We studied together, went to parties together, and I came to a greater understanding, through observation, of what it meant to be a Black man in America.
These were the days when the struggle for civil rights was taking center stage in American life. There were frightful scenes of dogs and police turned against protesters in the South.
Ray helped broaden my understanding of what that life-and-death struggle meant for someone who lived it every day.
Ray helped open my horizons in the summer between our junior and senior years, when we hatched a plan to work on a cargo ship bound for “the Orient,” (a plan that never came to fruition for me, but which we had great fun working on).
More importantly, Ray helped me find my footing.
My life had become a train wreck after my dad’s passing. I drank like a sailor and walked on the wild side.
This came to a head one night when Ray and I planned to meet up at a Prep sock hop.
When I arrived I was too drunk to walk through the front door so told Ray I’d find another way in.
My plan was to sneak through a window into the bathroom except I crawled through the WRONG window and tumbled into the ladies room.
The girls left screaming.
I soon found myself standing before the vice principal, who loudly announced to all my classmates he was calling my mother to come and take me home.
I was utterly humiliated.
It was then Ray stepped forward, grabbed my arm quietly, and said he would take me home. He knew I was out of control, but he also knew in time I would find my way.
He believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself.
At some point when Ray was nearing the end of his life, the topic of the afterlife came up. He shared that what he anticipated most — what he fervently hoped for — was being reunited with his dear Joyce.
When he told me this he smiled — the exact same smile he gave me all those decades ago when we were boys talking about boarding that cargo ship.
It’s a comfort to know Ray has finally found his way home to Joyce.
Goodbye, you dear, sweet man.
Just a thought…
Pat
💐
Now a song to send him off: