One question in re: money- RFG obviously was a sports fan (based on the Cleveland Indians weekend). So was my father. My dad didn't play sports as an adult, but he definitely had his favorite teams. J.J., you described RFG as an introvert; my dad was a businessman; he was very good at what he did, and he was naturally charismatic- he could shoot the breeze seemingly effortlessly with clients, etc. However, he didn't talk about things that were important to him, or his feelings/emotions. So people who worked for him, and folks he interacted with (he was a beer distributor, so he regularly made the bar rounds) thought he was open and easygoing- in fact, when he opened a tap account at Happy Joe's, his employees and friends told the waitress it was his birthday, and they did the whole shebang on him- surrounding his table, singing, blowing horns, etc. When I heard about this, my reaction was, "He didn't kill them? He didn't even blow up? Are you KIDDING?!" I'm kind of side-tracking, but please bear with me. RFG, although younger than my father, always reminded me of my dad. My dad made good money, but he never went to Vegas, or played poker (or any card games) "with the boys." He did, however, bet on certain games with a small circle of friends/ aquaintances. Once I got a brief look at a small piece of paper he was using to chart/calculate bets on a game he was watching (I have no idea as to exactly what he was doing)- suffice to say, it wasn't penny ante stuff. Also, he wasn't into cars much, but he had an old pick-up truck he'd use occasionally; well, he had a custom wood topper made for the back in another country, and had it shipped here! Now, from what little I know about RFG, I'm wondering if he had any other interests besides cars that might have been costly. Or "connections" (not as in the mafia!) in other countries that would've allowed him to rationalize buying expensive "toys"- like getting things at wholesale rates, ergo being able to blow off shipping costs.
Sorry for rambling; but coming from a family in which I observed money at times being spent readily on things I never would've dreamed of, I've been curious about RFG.
Thanks for reading & for any responses!
GarandTeed, as far as I know, RFG was not observed or known by any of his friends to spend much money on anything. There's no known history of gambling or otherwise dropping large sums of money on any sport or betting.
Now, there is a friend of his who has said on one of the TV shows since RFG disappeared that Ray didn't have " much of a knack for investing" to put it mildly... This was mostly based on some naive questions RFG apparently asked when the topic was about the group's returns on their stocks and mutual funds and stuff.
I've never found that to be a valid reason to think he was some rube regarding investments, especially IF he was hiding assets in a rather questionable way ( 2 ways we've discussed in the past but cannot prove or disprove are 1) Offshore accounts and 2) Actually mailing large sums of cash to his family in Slovenia if he planned to one day move there. The family would have banked the money for him in absentia, of course.
I'd act naive too if I had a huge nest egg put away out of sight of the IRS.
As far as his living habits and spending money, all we really know are these things:
1) He and his first wife adopted Lara. The wife, Barbara, was very well educated and accepted a plum professorship at PSU. When Lara was young, Barbara earned more than Ray did.
At that time, Ray wanted to be a stay at home parent and take care of their very young child. I think the time frame he actually did so was about 6 months, then his career came into play in PA.
2) He and his second wife, Emma, were said to have a very volatile relationship and one of the areas of huge disagreements was financial thrift vs. spending. Ray's friend and former A.D.A., Steve Sloane, has said that one day Ray came home to Emma and she'd bought and had delivered a great deal of very ornate furniture for the house. Ray deemed it to be frivolous spending and they had a huge falling out over Emma's spending. It's believed the differences in their spending was a major cause of their break up. Not that we really know this as fact, only anecdotally.
3) Ray was single for a year or two after divorcing Emma and then was in some sort of relationship with Patty F. He moved into her modest family home. It was an inherited home for her. She had a fairly small mortgage, maybe for money she used to update the house a bit, and when Ray moved in, he paid it off. The amount was around $75,000.
The house stayed in Patty's name on the deed.
Then, he bought the Mini Cooper, and it is said he paid cash. He titled the car in Patty's name and bought personalized license plates that said " PFo".
These license plates were on the car when he disappeared. It has recently been reported in one newspaper or blog that Patty and Ray were engaged. I do not think this means a thing. I do not believe he'd bought her a diamond or other engagement ring, and I do not think they had that deep a commitment made for their lives. Karen Arnold's account of her observations of her co-worker and D.A. at the time of his disappearance would support that it was not a long- term deeply committed relationship as Karen called Patty by the term " paramour" repeatedly. It can have 2 different meanings, one an outdated form meaning " girlfriend", the other a more traditional European meaning of " unworthy or unimportant sexual liaison partner".
We do not know of any expensive vacations, no trips to Vegas, no expensive hobbies. He is said to have known about the Street of Shops ( or SOS) in Lewisburg because he collected antique toys. No photos have ever shown any antique toys belonging to him and we don't know if there were 2 Lionel trains or a huge and expensive toy collection or what. It was very vaguely stated but was given as the main reason he'd be in the SOS.
He and Patty did dine out along the same patterns as most couples, I've read. He did withdraw cash from his bank's ATM, around $150=$200 a week, I believe. This is believed to have been his pocket spending money.
I'm sure he'd paid child support for Lara, and helped her through college, as had her mother, likely. He also had to pay Emma some money in their divorce around the year 2001. I know he was said to have been really steamed about that.
Most of the info we have is second- hand anecdotal info from Patty and also from Ray's few close friends, so I'm very hesitant to state most of it as factual. I believe it is, as the pattern of his life was extremely staid and, well, boring to people who are more carefree and less thrifty.
I think he was smart and likely did exactly what he wanted to except for the few years he was married to Emma. That's also when he disappeared for over 24 hours, part of that time spent at the Cleveland Indians ballpark in OH.
P.S.- I am not by any means speaking for another poster or meaning to fill those shoes.
My headache is preventing me from sleeping tonight, so I thought I'd " hit the high spots" as far as what's been discussed here regarding Ray and his money habits as far as we can determine. Thanks!
