MT. VERNON, N.Y -- When Ray Williams steps into the old gym at Mt. Vernon High School, or walks into the Dole Recreation Center a couple of blocks away, or opens the door down the street for lunch at King's Pizzeria, or even stops in front of the abandoned house in which he grew up, the reaction around him is pretty much the same.
Eyes light. Heads turn. Faces brighten. Chins nod.
People notice.
"It's good to see you, Ray,'' comes the warm and common refrain.
It makes this unlikely marriage -- a South Florida homeless man becomes the Mayor's assistant -- look like a natural fit.
Welcome home, Ray Williams. It's time to start over.
After 13 years of mostly bouncing anonymously through Florida from dead-end to dead-end -- the last 13 months sleeping in old faded vehicles in Pompano Beach -- Williams has returned to the town where he was born and raised and is still revered.
"We needed Ray back -- for a lot of reasons,'' said Mt. Vernon Mayor Clinton Young (pictured above, left, with Williams). "He's still respected and very much admired here. He can help us get things done. And he's a tremendous lesson on success, falling down -- then getting back up again. It was time for Ray to come home.''
Source: http://nba.fanhouse.com/2010/12/17/ray-williams-goes-from-homeless-to-home-with-a-job-for-holidays/
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