Raymond Wylie Nelson

Raymond Wylie Nelson, Founder of the non-profit organization, GUITARS NOT GUNS, passed away on Saturday evening, January 6, 2024. He was 93-years old. Ray had suffered severe strokes since Thanksgiving.

Ray’s interests took him into many artistic avenues where he quickly learned many crafts leaving a lasting impression within the creative world. Truly, everybody loved Ray.

Ray was born in Huffman, Arkansas to Robert Lee and Sleety Nelson on August 1, 1930. Raised on family farms in Huffman and Holcomb, Missouri, free time was enjoyed through family music led by his piano playing mother and banjo playing dad. Musically peppered with tunes played in family jam sessions made it easy for Ray to hone his skills as an entertainer. To this day, the Nelson family reunions still feature music along with scrumptious homemade food. As a Boy Scout, Ray was fascinated with airplanes and flying and was “in heaven” when offered a ride in a small airplane. He fulfilled his dream of fling by earning his pilot’s license.

Ray married his childhood sweetheart, Loretta Durbin and had two daughters, Debbie and Vicki. After a three-year stint in the Army, Ray became the early morning disc jockey at KBTN-Neosho (MO) and was invited to the Grand Ol’Opry as a guest DJ of the week. He formed a nightclub band, The Ray Nelson Combo, and entertained at such venues as the St Louis Airport Sheraton and the Anchor Inn. Ray’s marriage dissolved and he became a partner in a motorcycle shop and was active in the dirt-biking genre. He wrote songs for the cycle circuit and cut a record “Sing Out For Motorcycles”. He also joined his friend, Mike Vancil (a well-known motorcycle race announcer), in the announcers booth as a backup for the racer’s status.

THEN Ray moved to California in 1975. He settled in the San Jose area and formed a band, The Gold Coast Express, performing at the Hillsdale Inn and welcoming stars after they performed at the Circle Star Theatre and were looking for a place to “jam”, as well as entertaining the inmates in San Quentin. After establishing his musical credentials in California, he renamed his band to become the House band at Tennessee West in Cupertino. Besides their regular gig at TW, the band played venues from Pacifica/Half Moon Bay to Gilroy, including Frontier Village, Great America, and The Flying Lady. While performing with his band, Ray was cast in the movie “Do It In The Dirt” with Frank Sinatra, Jr. although the movie was never shown in the United States, it was seen in Japan by some friends who were vacationing there.

Shortly after his 50th birthday in 1980, he met Louise Lange. They became inseparable and married in 1983. The 1980’s were good for country music, but with new laws banning smoking, nightclubs lost many customers and bands separated. Ray re-invented himself and became a Host on San Jose’s community channel introducing new musical acts in the San Francisco Bay Area. With more time off than he knew what to do with, Ray created a Guitar-Motorcycle – mostly as a PR stunt to keep attention to his band. He travelled cross-country from San Francisco to New York City and back showing the GuitarBike at several venues along the way. During one of his stops in Nashville, Ray and his Guitarbike made a cameo appearance in a video shown on the 1982 Country Music Award Show while Lacy J Dalton sang “16th Avenue”. He also travelled as an Ambassador for the Shriner’s Children Hospitals, visiting hospitals and sharing coloring books featuring the GuitarBike and a character named Strum. Ray and his GuitarBike appeared in a Ripley’s Believe it or Not publication. Because the GuitarBike was a unique creation, Ray became involved with the Art Car Community and enjoyed entering his creation in many competitions and festivals. Ray was a lifelong learner and when Louise purchased a computer for a computer course, Ray taught himself on-line publications such as PageMaker and Quark. Soon he was publishing the California Country Music News with distribution as far south as San Diego and as far north as Eureka. The publication received an award from the California Country Music Association. While Louise was earning her Master’s Degree, Ray became her study partner, sounding wall, and mentor as they discussed some of the case studies.

In 1989, Ray and Louise signed up to be Foster parents and they were blessed with five children – three boys and two girls. As a result of parenting children who were angry, disappointed, and depressed, Ray decided that the only coping skill for them was to be involved in music. After much research and preparation, the Guitars not Guns non-profit organization was launched in June, 2000. Now known as the GNG Music Program the organization’s focus is to reach out to Foster and At-Risk Youth and has chapters in many states. The lesson books feature Strum, the cartoon character afore mentioned. He was especially grateful to the Newnan (GA) Police Department for taking on the program as part of their community outreach. Ray often stated that he wished he knew what his calling was long before GNG, but his legacy of kindness and support with no judgement will live a long time.

Ray is pre-deceased by his parents and brothers, Grady, Henry, Fred, Robert, Othell, Guin, Glen, and Joseph; and sisters, Mildred Garner, Willie Walls and Margie Bates; and stepdaughter, Teri Gronlund. He leaves his wife of 40-years, Louise Nelson, to mourn him, his happy smile, warmth, and personality; sister, Rachel Lytle; daughters, Debbie Reed and husband Tim; Vicki Nelson and husband Mike; step-son Tom Fajardo and wife Lori; and now adult semi-adopted daughters, Yvonne Hurtado and Cindy Hrudowski and husband Anthony; eight grandchildren and five great grand-children.