Tara's Ray of Sunshine has brightened the lives of students for two decades

Many students struggle with math, but not everyone has a Mr. Ray.

With a calm temperament and patience like none other, Rosedale's Raymond Turner, a retired electrical engineer, has been making a difference in the lives of students and teachers at Tara Elementary School for more than 20 years as a volunteer. 

“He will repeat (a question) for a year, a decade, a century,” said fifth grader Aiden Nguyen Tu. “He will repeat that question a million times just for you to understand.”

Turner has been assisting teachers at Tara since 2004, and is still going strong. He comes in every Tuesday and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. 

“When he's not here, it feels a bit empty,” said Nguyen Tu. 

Photo by Madison Bierl

Lynn Wolfe, a fifth grade teacher at Tara Elementary since 2003, said every year she nominates Turner for the district's volunteer of the year award, but he has never won. Turner has been working directly with Wolfe’s classes since 2008.

“They're not worried that he's going to get upset with them,” Wolfe said of the students who work with Turner. “If they don't understand, they feel safe.”

Turner, 78, helps with two fifth grade classes that are "team-taught" by Wolfe and Deborah Hall. While both are fifth grade classes, one class is advanced math where the students are learning at the sixth grade level. 

Wolfe said when she sees students struggling, she likes to bounce ideas off Turner. She asks if he has another strategy.

“This math for him is easy, so he can do this with his eyes closed,” Wolfe said. 

Turner said sometimes the students understand his method better, and sometimes they understand Wolfe’s method better. While some teachers might insist that a volunteer use the same method as the teacher, Wolfe said she doesn't mind if Turner goes a different direction to get the right end result.

Turner said one of the best things he can do to help the kids understand difficult math programs and concepts is to draw diagrams. He wants them to see what is being presented.

“I always start each year with a thick pad of scratch paper,” he said with a smile.

Fifth grade student Ryan Agovino said he has learned to enjoy math because of Turner.

“Without Mr. Ray, it would be way worse,” Agovino said.

Even growing up, Turner said he gravitated toward math- or science-related subjects. He remembered being in the Boy Scouts and doing projects that forced him to use his math skills.

At 10 years old, he was inspired by the launch of Sputnik 1, the world's first artificial satellite that was sent into space by the Soviet Union in 1957. Although he never wanted to go into space, that launch did provide inspiration for his future career path.

“I had no clue what engineering was, but I knew the United States needed more engineers,” Turner said.  

Turner’s father Odbert Turner Jr. was an electrician who taught his son about electricity. That led him to become interested in a career electrical engineering. 

He eventually had a career with Southern California Edison.

With his wife Patricia, he moved to Bradenton in September 2003 to be near her family. He still worked another 10 years with Southern California Edison, mostly remote, with occasional trips to California.

In retirement, Turner found he is not a golfer, nor a tennis player. He said he wanted to be a more charitable person and that he had time to do it. He volunteers not only at Tara Elementary School, but also with the Stillpoint Mission of Bradenton and Sarasota's St. Patrick Catholic Church, where he attends. 

“One of the best things I can do is something that's charitable,” he said. 

He was looking for other ways to spend his free time, and he discovered the Lakewood Ranch Running Club.

There he met Joan Novak, who was a teacher at Tara Elementary from 1999 to when she retired in 2013.  When she found out about his background as an engineer, Novak recommended that Turner look into helping the science department at the school. 

He became involved, helping second, third and eventually fifth graders. Over the years, his volunteer work shifted from science to mostly math. 

“Teachers come and go, they retire, and so I was needed in other areas,” Turner said. 

Wolfe, along with her son, Tanner, ran a Halloween-themed 5k in October 2007. Turner already was a volunteer at Tara, but he hadn't met Wolfe until that race. Turner already had helped her son, who was in second grade at that point, with math.

“I begged him to work with me,” Wolfe said.

“Now he's got an exclusive deal with me," she said with a laugh. "He's not allowed to help anybody else. He's got a lifelong contract.” 

Wolfe also values Turner as a role model for the students since there are not a lot of male instructors in elementary education. 

“It's important (the students) see that his demeanor is so calm, and he's just such a positive person for them to be around,” Wolfe said.  

Turner said volunteering keeps him young and up to date, especially since his great niece, Samantha LoCastro, is a third grader at Tara. 

“It's a contrast to where I live with my neighbors (who are mostly seniors),” Turner said. “You know, we have our own different interests, different likes. We have our own different conversations.”

He still provides some students with an elementary introduction to electricity. He teaches them terms such as voltage, current, resistance and Ohms Law. He set up circuits and a water wheel for them to have a hands-on learning experience. 

“He bought all of that stuff,” Wolfe said. “I mean, he was here for probably two hours setting it all up.”

Turner said if he has to slow down, and stop anything in his routine, volunteering with the kids would be the last to go.

The students are glad to hear that.

“Everyone in this world needs a Mr. Ray,” Nguyen Tu said.