Judge Ray to be installed
The new judge of Bethel Superior Court of Alaska, Charles W. Ray, Jr. will be installed on Friday, Aug. 31. The public is invited to the installation that begins at 11 a.m. in Courtroom 6 of the Bethel courthouse. A reception will follow.
Ray was appointed to the position by Gov. Parnell and fills the seat left vacant by the death of the Honorable Marvin Hamilton III. Ray is expected to take up his duties with the Bethel Court by mid-August.
Judge Ray arrived in Cordova after his second year at Stanford University, intending to work the summer at a cannery and return to school in the fall. Instead, he took an opportunity to pick up a fishing boat in Texas and return with it to Cordova. He ended up commercial fishing for the next 10 years, intermittently returning to school as funds allowed. During those 10 years, Ray completed his undergraduate degree in environmental biology at Stanford, received a Juris Doctor degree at the University of Oregon Law School and married his wife Jenny, formerly Wickett, who was born and raised in Cordova. Jenny received her bachelor’s at the University of Oregon while Ray was in law school and fishing. They returned to Alaska where Ray has pursued an active and successful trial practice, involving complex civil litigation as well as numerous misdemeanor criminal proceedings.
Charles and Jenny have three daughters, Krystal Kompkoff-Anderson, Noelle Kompkoff and Chelsea Ray, all living in Alaska.