Guy Ray didn’t start drinking coffee until he was 34 years old. From then on, he would brag about making a “pretty good cup of coffee”. He had an old green half-of-aluminum horseshoe that was eaten away from corrosion hanging next to the coffee cups. “ Coffee Tester…If it turns green, it’s just right” read his hand written sign beside it.

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He would either call or hand-write a letter in response to every inquiry that he ever had. He enjoyed sharing his thoughts with anyone who was interested in listening. It seemed to never fail, that whenever Millie had prepared the finest of dinners that the family had just sat down to eat, that the phone would ring, no matter the time of night. Never to put a person off until later, he would often end up talking on the phone for an hour or more, only to come back to a cold meal.

 

It seemed that he had a different joke to tell or an old saying that “Mama said..” for each and every customer that ever came to the ranch. Some of his quotes and proverbs were taken from Will Rogers while many seemed to be originals of his own.

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He would be glad to give them all his “25 cent tour” as his guest. However, he warned anyone that visited that they would be considered guests for only ten minutes. After that he would put them to work. It gave people who just dropped in to visit a sense of worth to be able to help Guy Ray Rutland out. I think he realized that everyone enjoys doing things for others to some extent, some more than others, while many don’t ever get the opportunity. He gave them that, for sure.

 

Guy Ray’s word was gold. If he told a man something, that was the way it would be. His honesty and integrity was never questioned.

 

He once sold a horse to a man that, while sitting at Guy Ray’s kitchen table, wrote a check to pay for him and threw it on the table and said “Be careful, Guy Ray, that’s probably hot.” Guy Ray grabbed it and turned and threw it in the freezer saying “There, that ought to cool it down.” Six months later while cleaning out the freezer, Millie came across the check that he had forgotten was in there. It seemed to be O.K. by then.

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Guy Ray’s older brother, Dean, was a role model for him. He wanted to do whatever Dean did. He even went to work as a store manager for J.C. Penny, in an attempt to live up to his brother’s occupation. However, Guy Ray simply wasn’t happy inside. His brother knew it and talked him into going back to ranching. He had another brother and sister that he looked up to, as well. He was a very loving family man with old fashion family values.