(October 4, 1931 – July 11, 2023)
by Dave Weiman
Published in Midwest Flyer Magazine August/September 2023 Digital Issue
Utik Lake, Manitoba, Canada 2003: (Back Row L/R) Phil Peterson, Renee Rubin, Ray Rubin, a staff member, and the pilot of the Cessna Caravan. (Front Row L/R): Al Reid, Eunice Rubin, Dave Weiman, and a staff member.
Ray Rubin
It was the winter of 1988 when businessman, Ray Rubin, of Eagle River, Wisconsin, saw a copy of Midwest Flyer Magazine and called me to help him promote a new five-star fishing lodge he was building in northern Manitoba. The following year, it was Ray’s idea to create the “Canadian Caravan” for pilots, an adventure we have continued to this day, with pilots flying their own aircraft to Canada as a group.
Ray was a football player in college, a student pilot for a while, an aeronautical engineer by trade, a world traveler, and the owner of the local Ben Franklin store in Eagle River. Ray and his Canadian business partner, Al Reid, also developed and managed hunting and fishing lodges throughout Manitoba. Ray was an expert fisherman, and fishing was his #1 hobby. Al was a pilot and a master at building lodges and airstrips in remote areas. Together, they made a great team!
The lodge Ray and Al had under construction at the time was “Knee Lake Resort,” which became one of only a handful of five-star fishing resorts in Canada.
Flying to Knee Lake was not my first fishing trip to Canada, but it was my most enjoyable, because it was the start of a lifelong friendship with Ray Rubin and his family. Ray and I, and friends Walt Loether, Jack O’Brien, and Phil Peterson, enjoyed our trips to Knee Lake, and Ray also joined me on trips to other fishing destinations throughout Manitoba and Ontario in the years that followed. Ray also encouraged our family to vacation in Eagle River, which has become a tradition.
Ray’s wife, Eunice, passed away in 2017, and their only child, Renee, passed away in 2020. Other than a sister and nephew on the East Coast, all Ray had left were his many friends in Wisconsin and Canada.
Repeated falls required that Ray sell his lake home in Eagle River and live in an assisted living facility. We celebrated his 91st birthday on October 4, 2022, and saw him twice this year, most recently just two weeks before he passed away on July 11. Fortunately, Peggy and I were able to thank him for his friendship over these past 35 years on our last visit, and for his idea to create the “Canadian Caravan” for pilots!
Blue skies, Ray, and thanks for your friendship and the memories!
