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Ray Clayton
Sept 17
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Ray Clayton
Sept 17
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RAY FIELDS CLAYTON -- IN LOVING MEMORY
RETIRED PHOTOGRAPHER SOUTHERN RHODE ISLAND NEWSPAPERS Ray Fields Clayton, 69, of North Kingstown died Sunday, December 25, 2011. He was the beloved husband and soulmate of Marlene (Goldstein) Clayton. Born in Oberlin, Ohio , he was the son of the late Faith Fields Adams and the late Ollie Pat Carter. Ray was a veteran of the United States Navy and served aboard three ships from 1961 to 1966. An avid musician, he was under contract in California with Columbia Records in the late '60s.
In 1976, he relocated to Rhode Island and joined Southern Rhode Island Newspapers as a photographer. During his career he was the winner of many photography awards including being chosen Photographer of the Year for six consecutive years by the R.I. Press Association and All New England Photographer of the Year by the New England Press Association in 1999. He retired in 2008 after 32 years of taking many memorable photos of generations of South County families and events. In addition to being an active, caring member of the South County community, Ray was also a faithful blood donor and a generous, charitable man. For several years he participated in the Big Brother program. He enjoyed playing the guitar, listening to classical music, being creative with his computer and was a voracious reader.
He was the proud father of Prudence (Rich) Christina of Westerly, Kevin and Eric Moran of New York and stepfather of Jennifer (Goldstein) Parson of Massachusetts and Jonathan Goldstein of North Carolina. He was Papa Ray to 9 grandchildren. Ray was the brother of Charles Carter, Monte Clayton (deceased) and Marvel Gaudette. His is also survived by his former wife Pamela Coulahan of Westerly.
A memorial celebration of his life will be held at a future time.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the North Kingstown Food Pantry, 525 Boston Neck Road, North Kingstown, R.I. 02852.
The Standard-Times, North Kingston, R.I., Thursday, December 29, 2011, p. 5B
After high school I went to Central State in southern Ohio for the most unsuccessful year of my life and at the end of that year I fairly ran into the Navy. I spent four years, three months and twenty-eight days in uniform, most of that time in Cuba and San Francisco.
Along the way I taught myself to play the guitar and began performing. Indeed, after discharge, I and my then-wife were signed to Columbia records and spent the next four years at their beck and call, with essentially no product or success or anything except frustration.
Then I worked as an optician for about three years in San Francisco where my daughter was born, before I went back to school in Los Angeles for editorial photography. Finished school in San Francisco, couldn't find a job there, so I returned to Rhode Island (I had been discharged from the USN in Newport).
I've been working as a photojournalist here in Rhode Island since 1976. I work for a group of six weekly, biweekly and one daily papers that used to be respected nationally, before corporate America bought us up three or four years ago. Now we take a lot of ad pictures and business shots. The th