Robert D. Ray: An Iowa Treasure - Keep Iowa Beautiful

This article is intended to be both 1) a promotion piece for a wonderful book supporting an important cause, and 2) a tribute to a special person in Iowa history; a man I had the privilege of serving with in Iowa government for four years.

This beautiful book was created from Bob Ray's photography collection as a fund-raiser for the Keep Iowa Beautiful program that is one of his favorite causes. The book itself is a tribute to his service to the State of Iowa, the USA, and the world.

Join with me in owning this book, order today, and then reading it to learn the many things he has done for Iowa and humanity following his years as Governor of Iowa. THANKS! ;-)

Although you can easily order from Amazon, below, if you use this link to order, you will maximize your contribution to the Keep Iowa Beautiful program as well as get this really neat book! ;-)

This is another example of how 'politicians' who are truly 'public servants' can still be of great benefit to their communities and regions without having to continually seek public office. This man could have been a great president of the USA, but recognized he could also serve in other capacities - and did! ;-)

Did you know all the things Bob Ray has done after being Governor?

Four years of service to the State of Iowa

I was privileged to serve under Governor Robert D Ray for four years in the first half of the 1970s, fairly early during the sixteen years that he served as Governor of the State of Iowa. The first two years I was one of five members of his personal staff (see photo) serving in a variety of roles.

The final years of my service were as Deputy Commissioner of the Iowa Department of Social Services (at the time) including traveling to each of the 99 Iowa counties to support the integration of the county social services agencies into the newly created regional state structure set up by the Iowa legislature.

Over the four years I also had the privilege of serving on several boards and commissions, and, for about six months, served as Acting State Librarian. These were all great experiences.

The photo image comes from the Des Moines Register which ran a story on the governor's personal staff not long after I joined it. I'm on the right. On the left is Bill Jackson, with whom I recently exchanged emails and learned that, though retired, as am I, he works a couple of days a week with the Keep Iowa Beautiful program as an Assistant Director and was actively involved in the compilation of the material in this remarkable book.