Ray is third from left in this photo above…
I didn’t know until I read his obituary how much older than me Ray was or what he did for a living. I knew Ray when I was in high school and when you’re a self absorbed 17 year old, you don’t always pay attention to other people or understand how important they really are in your growth and development and how you’ll carry that forward…
Here’s what I did know; there were two guitar masses in our little Catholic church — Ray led one guitar group and my dad led the other. And me? I was the only bass player which made me kind of a hot commodity at the time — a legend in my own mind. And, here’s the dirty little secret: as you might expect from a self absorbed 17 year old I thought Ray was cool and my dad definitely was not. Not so secretly, my dad resented that I preferred playing with Ray in the ‘cool’ guitar group and he laid down the law: I could not play with Ray unless I played with my dad as well. Soooo, for most of my high school life I attended two masses every weekend — 5:00 on Saturday and 10:30 on Sunday morning. That’s. How. Much. I. Loved. Ray. Try to get two masses out of a teenager in a weekend and you’ll understand the depth of my love…
My best memory with Ray? St. Luke Church in Carol Stream had a ‘casino night’ fundraiser and each room was set up with a different theme. Ray asked me to play along with him in one of the breakout rooms and we had a blast. My favorite song we played?
I’m grateful to my buddy Mac (second from left in the picture) for sharing this obituary with me — otherwise it might have escaped me. Two lessons that I want to bring forward. One, the ever popular ‘time is short’ message. Memento mori as the stoics said — remember that we’ll die soon and make the most of every minute.
You will die soon. I will die soon.
Thich Nhat Hanh
This moment is all we have.
Second? Mac and I both agree that we both had such a great experience in all our interactions with Ray. He made us both feel like rockstars at a time when we were just awkward high school kids. Get out there and be a Ray Bonnelli for someone in your life–God knows we need more people like him…
God bless you, Ray. See you at that great guitar mass in the sky!
View Raymond J. Bonelli’s obituary, contribute to his memorial, see his funeral service details, and more. Source: Obituary information for Raymond J. Bonelli
btw, reading the obituary, I discovered that Ray actually posted a few recordings — none of them will capture his true essence but I’ll post them anyway…
Bright, shiny objects! 
What do you think?