One evening during the first visit with my dogs, Tanner and Tommy, Beth, who is another Fidos volunteer, said to me, “Have you ever visited this room?” I said, “No, because the door is always closed.” She said, “That never stopped me, let’s try.” She knocked and a voice said “enter”.

We discovered a gentleman who was paralyzed except for his right arm. His name is Ray, and he is one of the most fantastic, knowledgeable people you will ever want to meet. He loves old movies, especially black and white classics; he can tell you who won Oscars and starred in every old movie you ask him about. He loves sports, especially the “Redskins” and other football teams of which he has pictures and memorabilia around his room. On one of our last visits to Brooke Grove before COVID-19, Ray was handling Tommy and he and Beth struck up a long conversation about Moe Berg; a famous baseball player who became a spy during WWII (you should look him up). He also loves to tell the story about his dog, whose picture sits in front of his television, would frighten little children because being an English Sheep dog his eyes were not visible to the child. He often told us the story about how he became paralyzed – a terrible tragedy.

Since that first time, we have visited Ray every time we go to Brooke Grove and he always looks forward to our visits. He would compliment us on how much our visits meant to him since he had no family or friends to come to see him.

I miss seeing him, sharing our stories, and learning something new every time I visit him.