Birthday Ray

(Jeanne and Bebe 1952)

Once upon a time a woman named Jeanne Lightbound went to Western High School for just one year and became good friends with a Greek kid named George Cokinos. Jeanne went back to Bethesda Chevy Chase High school, but she never forgot George. If she hadn't kept up that friendship with George, we never would have met all her BCC pals like Charles Bernard, whom she married, and Ray Stone who is celebrating his 90th birthday today.


(Irene, Bebe and Ray 1945)

The gang, Ray and Irene Stone, Roy and Marge Cross and Jeanne's husband Charles Bernard met George and Bebe in the late 1930s. After the war everybody started having children and playing Bridge. George, Ray and Charles went into the home building business together before Ray began Bethesda TV and Charles got into selling Oldsmobiles. The friends went to the beach and later traveled the world together.


(Peter and Roger Cokinos w/ Ray Stone 1950)



(Trip to Bermuda 1970 back when everybody got dressed up to get on a plane)

In the late 1960s, George and Ray built beach cottages side by side in South Bethany. The property was cheap after a huge storm destroyed most of the beachfront houses on Ash Wednesday in 1962.

Bethany Beach after the storm

The two houses ended up being so close together that we could communicate with an intercom which was fun but unreliable. When that didn't work, we used sign language. We didn't have phones at the beach.

One time George urgently summoned Ray, telling him that a fire had broken out. Ray rushed over to our house only to find George grinning, standing over a griddle full of pancakes. Too bad Ray forgot to tell Irene, who was waiting anxiously next door, that it was just a joke.

Bebe recalls the time they went out on Ray's boat and their friend, Nadine spilled a cocktail down her front. She went below and took her bra off, and they hung it on the rigging to dry. When they came back to dock for dinner, they made quite the entrance with Ray coming in a bit too fast, and the red bra flying.

Happy birthday, Ray. You still have your good looks, not to mention that winning personality.