Ray Bouchard

Ray was born in Clearwater, Florida. he grew up in the Orange grove his grandfather planted in 1908. By they age of ten Ray was exploring the swamps beyond the grove and cultivated a great love of nature. Throughout his teens he was active in sports and served as President of the Student Council his senior year in high school. After graduation he built a small cabin overlooking a ravine on his family's farm in the Ozarks. While working on the cabin he nursed an injured Owl and Hawk back to health. By the time the birds were well enough to be released back in to the wild Ray experienced a transformation of his own. His love of nature and desire for adventure has guided him throughout his life.! !! ! Ray returned to Florida planning to pursue a career in Oceanography. A few weeks after starting college he was invited to sail to the Bahamas with friends for a few months. He dropped out of school and began the great adventure of his life. He moved to New York and started acting in his early twenties landing roles on Ryan's Hope, All My Children, and Smokey and The Bandit III, as well as several Off Off Broadway productions before his love of the sea carried him to the Mediterranean and the Caribbean working on large yachts.! ! ! Ray has enjoyed working in the entertainment industry for over 40 years both in front and behind the camera. He produced and directed the Documentary film "The Farm" during the ten years he created over 130 acres of wetlands on a former tobacco farm near Brown Summit, North Carolina then granted the state an Easement protecting nearly two miles of Haw River frontage along with the Wetlands.! ! ! "All along the river is this beautiful Old Growth Forest. Some of the trees are three hundred years old and six feet in diameter. My neighbor to the west then two neighbors across the river sold and clear cut their Timber all the way to the banks of the Haw because [the market was good.] The forest is magical to me. I felt I had to protect as much as I could."! ! Ray is a competitive sailor, Volunteer Gaurdian Ad Litem, and Youth Sailing Safety Volunteer.