Great Mentor

[Brian K. Nelson]

Redo

 

[crystalaakre]

@Ray Wangler

 

[Jerry Christiansen]

Brian,

Thanks for posting the note and the picture. I agree that Ray is a great teacher and mentor. We are lucky to have Ray and others in Miniature Land that are willing to work with young (new) people and teach them about steam. I wonder how many of our steam engineers started out in Miniature Land.

Later,
Jerry Christiansen

 

[Sanders E.]

These are great pictures that capture just one of the countless individuals Ray has had a positive impact on up in miniature land, all throughout the show grounds and beyond.

Any sort of thank you I would try to conjure up for all that Ray has done for me in and out of the steam realm would fall short. Our relationship started as one of teacher and student that developed into a great friendship that I am beyond thankful for today. I hold and cherish many fond memories with Ray and look forward to creating many more as the years carry on.

Thanks Ray, everyone needs a friend like you.

 

[Ray Wangler]

A little hard to respond....... and much more than deserved, thanks. I've made so many great friends by knowing them when they were 10 and watched them grow in to wonderful adults. Young men like Sanders quickly become teachers themselves, I garnish more than I give, for sure! Crystal, Rachel, Sean Nelson's girls......too many to mention are wonderful people and have taught me a lot. The young lady in Brian's photo is Alma. What a kid! Earlier in the day I had taught her how to chop wood. I asked her to show a couple other kids how to do it. Later, she approached me right after a Miniature Land safety meeting and said "I'm putting on a wood chopping class in 5 minutes." She promptly lined up 3 or 4 kids and gave them the "full meal deal" on chopping wood! "Always wear gloves, don't swing the axe towards yourself, keep your hands away from where you're chopping.......etc" She's not only going to grow up to be an awesome woman, but she'll whip some young fellow into shape when she becomes a wife!

 

[RickW]

I think that a good part of Ray's art as a teacher is that he's not stranded in his own mind--he seems to have a way of picking up on the thought patterns of the people he's with. It's a high art to be able to offer correction in a way that's received well, and in my personal experience Ray does it better than most. But than again I'm a weirdo, so it may not be much of a compliment...