Ray was born in Hall Summit, Louisiana, as one of seven children of Charles Dale Kellogg and Gertrude Lorraine Meeks Kellogg. His father worked as a carpenter and farmer and sawmill employee. Ray helped his father plow in afternoons while attending high school. Graduating in 1942, he worked in Delta Shipyard in New Orleans for eight months before he was drafted into the U.S. Army. Entering service on October 21, 1943, he was sent to Fort Knox, Kentucky, where he trained in both infantry and armored branches. As a member of the 32^nd Armored Regiment of 3^rd Armored Division. He sailed in spring of 1944 on a freighter, the Del Morte in a convoy to Ireland. From there he boarded a ferry to Glasgow, Scotland, and then took a train to Southampton. Ray crossed the English Channel to France "about ten days after the sixth," he says, referring to the D-Day invasion. Ray drove an armored car in a reconnaissance company, venturing ahead of the front lines, as well as supplies such as hot meals. "From June to September I didn't see a dinner plate," he says. His weight dropped from 170 to "between 150 and 160 pounds" during the summer of 1944. "We went days without sleep," he says of the drive into Germany. Ray returned to America in January of 1946 and was discharged at Camp Shelby near Hattiesburg, Mississippi. He went to work for the highway department. He married Julie Morrison on August 12, 1950. After her death on May 15, 1952, he married Lillie Sue Stevenson on May 30, 1953. They have two children, five grandchildren, and one great grandchild. Ray also was employed at Magnolia Oil Company as a roustabout, along with other positions. He worked on offshore rigs for nearly 18 years.