In Memory of Harry Layton Bray 1921-2003
Saturna Sunset Scribbler :: 
Harry was born in Ontario and grew up in a small town at a time when there was freedom for children to roam.There was always baseball, hockey or band practice after school.With his friends he would fish and swim in the creek, hunt groundhogs, watch the blacksmith and drive a team of horses.
World War II began just as Harry finished high school, and he enlisted in the Air Force where he trained as a pilot.He served with the Eighth Bomber Reconnaissance Squadron based in Sydney, Nova Scotia, then in Alaska when the Japanese invaded the Aleutian Islands.Harry remembered the Christmas of '42 when the temperature dropped to -42° F. Having completed two tours of operation with the Air Force, Harry could have settled for safety in Canada, but instead he joined the 35 Squadron and served in India and the Cocos Islands, dropping supplies as well as carrying out bombing raids in Burma, Bangkok, and Singapore.After the declaration of peace was signed, he helped evacuate troops held in POW camps.
Returning to Canada, Harry established a small charter airline company, Kamloops Air Service, which was eventually taken over by Central BC Air.It grew to become Pacific Western Airlines.  In 1986, the airline took over CP Air, to become Canadian Airlines International. 
No man could have found a profession that suited him as well as Harry's did.He was in control, well paid, traveled the world, and worked with people he respected.In his free time he wrote, ranched, built houses, developed a housing subdivision in Belize, and married several times. His book Lap of the Gods went to two printings.
Harry retired from flying in 1978 when he was killed on a stress test, then jolted back to life.He enjoyed another 25 years, traveling, doing genealogy, singing, fishing commercially, and re-marrying.Harry lived with gusto!His energy and enthusiasm gained friends around the world.When his health deteriorated, he settled down in his haven on Saturna to enjoy his final years with love and laughter, roses and sunsets.