“ | Had a couple drinks, saw a couple things. | ” |
–Ray |
“ | That’s just the way she goes... fuckin’ way she goes. | ” |
–Ray |
Raymond “Ray” Flower is a longtime resident of the Sunnyvale Trailer Park, a career drunk step-father of Ricky and ex-husband of Tammy. Ray is a self-proclaimed Calvinist, and often uses the Bible to justify his poorer choices or to guilt people into helping him. Ray was portrayed by Barrie Dunn. He is also an alcoholic, just like Jim Lahey.
Background[]
All we know about Ray is that he was once married to a woman named Tammy in the 1970s. The letters y-m-m-a-T are tattooed from left to right on the knuckles of his left hand. Ray was once a trucker, but ended up having to leave the road, because of his propensity to drink while driving, which resulted in multiple DUI (Driving Under the Influence) charges.
Ray and Jim Lahey grew up together. This is referenced in several episodes in the last half of the show's run. The two men do not like each other very much, and often are at odds. Ray starts out the first season in a wheelchair, although the cause is not explained. According to Lahey it is at least partly due to a rivalry for the affections of Tammy. Unbeknownst to either of them Tammy had relations with another man and that union resulted in Ricky being conceived. Then in season 4, he is finally back to normal from his injury, but remains in a wheelchair to keep getting checks from the Canadian government. In season 5, he is busted for disability insurance fraud by Lahey. It is assumed the real injury that lasted the first two seasons occurred when he crashed into a post office prior to the series.
Living Arrangements[]
Ray originally had his own trailer he lived in with his wife, and he kept it after she left him. They had a 35-year mortgage on the property he had paid off just prior to when it burned to the ground in season 5, due to Ricky leaving a pot of french fry grease on a hot stove burner. Ray lived in the burned out husk until Randy had him evicted. Ricky then moved his dad into his old sleeper cab from his trucking days, that "Shitty" Bill helped him move. Eventually, Ray is evicted by Randy, who is acting as park supervisor at the time, and they have to move the sleeper cabin to the town dump. During his time at the dump, Ray has to develop special hearing abilities in order to survive against the other animal species that strive to make his life more difficult (one of the most hated species being Dump Bees).
When Jim Lahey is reinstated as a police officer in season 6, Ray becomes the trailer park supervisor as a clause in Bubbles' peace agreement with Lahey. Presumably, during this time, he lives in the supervisor's trailer. But by the time the finale episode airs, Ray is back in the sleeper cabin, which is still in the dump.
In the Movie, he's happily surrounded by old cars and palm trees. The boys, not knowing any of this, throw a funeral for Ray at the beginning of the movie, but at the end of the movie receive a VHS from Ray detailing his scam and new life. This finally gives Ricky the closure he needs and the satisfaction of knowing his father is still alive.
Love Life[]
We don't see Ray with any specific women in the show, but he does have a weakness for strippers. He also still seems to deeply miss his (ex-)wife Tammy who left him and was never heard of again. On the trip with Bubbles to Maine, he picks up multiple 'friends of the road', which seems to make Bubbles highly uncomfortable.
Lucy is stated to be one of his lovers.
Criminal Activity[]
Ray is not a hardcore criminal but many of his activities certainly skirt the law. His main focus is defrauding the government disability program using a wheelchair to pretend he is injured. He frequently stands up from the chair and walks, but only when in the company of those he trusts. This activity lands him in jail when Jim Lahey rats him out to the government in "Don't Cross The Shitline".
In season 7 he is arrested and jailed at a truck stop on the way to Bangor, Maine for soliciting prostitution from an undercover cop during the scrap metal operation he runs with Bubbles.
In the "Say Goodnight To The Bad Guys" special finale, he is arrested for his Ray's Good Liquor bootlegging operation, which is how he supplied the Country Dirty Dancing gig Julian and Ricky ran at the Blanford Recreation Centre.
Ricky has mentioned they have committed breaking and entering before along with stealing meat during Season 7 "I fuckin miss Cory and Trevor"
In the third movie, Trailer Park Boys: Don't Legalize It, Ray pulls off a life insurance scam, Making $11,000 from it and moving to Florida.
Apart from his deliberate crimes, Ray has been arrested for multiple accounts of public intoxication and DUIs. The latter cause him to lose his job as a trucker.
Characterization[]
Ray is a career drunk and, like Jim, can drink vast quantities of hard liquor. He will do almost anything for a drink; he once agreed to be beaten up for two 40 ounce bottles.
Julian and Bubbles have stated in an interview that a lot of Ricky's problems can be traced back to Ray. Like Ricky, he has almost no formal education and didn't receive a high school education until the season 7 finale.
He is addicted to video lottery terminals (VLTs), and steals, borrows and begs for money in order to play them, but seldom wins more than he loses. Ray has also managed to formulate within his head that he is ahead, despite the fact that he will often pay out more than he has taken in. On one occasion, the same night his trailer burned down, he took and lost all the liquor money intended for drinks for himself, Julian, Bubbles and Cory and Trevor playing the VLT machines.
Ray is a self-proclaimed Calvinist (a reformist version of Christianity, similar to Protestant doctrines) and speaks of religion and the Bible often. He justifies his lifestyle by stating that if God didn't intend him to use hookers or VLTs, then 'the Big Guy upstairs' (God) wouldn't have put them on this earth.
Ray has never stopped being in the trucker mindset. In season 6, the running gag is that he is responsible for the piss jug problem in the park. Apparently, living in the sleeper cabin for that time caused him to go back to the 'way of the road', which means that instead of using a toilet to pee in, he uses old milk jugs as a trucker would when they cannot stop along the highway at a rest stop.
Trivia[]
- He is stated to have contracted Chlamydia and Crabs on several occasions.