Ray is my son.

Ray started school at Mid Del Christian in Del City Oklahoma. Ray liked this school. However, with the size of the school, and with his personality and sense of humor, it did not take long for Ray and his family to realize this school was too small; (everyone new he was a hand full).

When Ray finished his seventh grade year at Mid Del, he then wanted to transfer to Mcloud school district. Reluctantly, his stepfather and I agreed. Little did we know that this would be the happiest time of Ray’s life.

Ray began to enjoy school. For the first time, Ray really enjoyed sports and hanging out in a small town. Ray's plans were to graduate high school and then join the navy. He then wanted to be a Drug Enforcement Agent, live in North Carolina, and start a family.

Ray had just got his license five days before he passed. He was spending the night with a friend and I talked with him for the last time at 11:36 pm on the 15th of December. The next morning I text messaged and called him several times with no reply. So, his father and I went over to the house only to find a police officer and a medical examiner there to greet us with the news that our son had passed in his sleep.

We found out a few months later that there were three to four oxymorphone pills found in my son’s system. As a mother I was in shock. I had never seen any signs, (grades, personality), nothing at all. As my husband and I began to question this, we found that no one else as far as friends, cousins, other family members and the staff we talked with from MHS had ever seen or heard of Ray using drugs either. To this day we still do not know what happened that night.

I know my son was very happy and he liked his home life. He loved school; well he loved the social part of school. We now have to deal with keeping what we have left together and alive.

For all of you who read this and are dealing with a death, please know everyday when I pray I now pray for all of you by asking God to be with each and every person that is hurting the way my husband, daughter and I hurt... R.I.P. Ray Cox. Mama loves you...