In early 90's, I chanced to meet him at Century City mall. I told him I was an English teacher at Fairfax High School and had taught some of his short stories and novels. He asked which local library was affiliated with the school. It was HIS idea that we do a fund-raiser for the library. For the next couple of months, my students and I prepared for the event. The highlight for me was that I had the profound honor of reading a prepared introduction I'd composed after which he spoke for over an hour and then autographed books. We corresponded in those months before and just after the event. He sent me dramatizations of "Dandelion Wine" and "Fahrenheit 451" and a poem he'd written in response to one I'd sent him, the product of the inspiration he'd inadvertently given me.

He is a visionary, a man whose childlike wonder and love of life never left him. He is a giant, as an author and humanist. His stories are infused with his great vigor, poetry and the illimitable fantastic but never lose sight of the real and the human. He will be forever missed. Ray, we love you.