GET TO KNOW “THE MALYS”

GET TO KNOW “THE MALYS”

 Linda shares a great version of the night in 1983 in Bellevue, Washington when she and Ray met for the first time: “It was a dark and stormy night Ray’s first shift on his new job. He was sitting quietly at the ER Nurses’ Station working on patient charts. As he concentrated, the automatic hallway doors flew open with a whoosh, and the night nursing supervisor walked in. Yes y’all, it was Linda. They smiled at each other and their lives were never the same. It was a perfect match.”

At the time, Ray was living on his sailboat and Linda had a home in the woods. They got married and enjoyed doing many things together: hiking, camping, sailing, snowmobiling, long road trips and entertaining nieces and nephews. They even trained their dogs as Certified Therapy Dogs.

They also enjoyed projects like remodeling and building houses, restoring sailboats and landscaping. By the way, when the new classroom was being built in the church a couple of months ago, it was noticed that Ray had some serious building skills! Speaking of enjoying things, Ray and Linda enjoy watching a series called “Drive thru History” by Dave Stotts.

They have both worked as nurses in various settings: jails, critical care transport, fishing vessels and regular hospitals. Linda said that “as a pediatric nurse, she drew on years of experience working with children as she developed many new and innovative programs in the hospital setting.”

Ray was born in South Dakota but grew up in North Dakota in a big family. While in the Navy he was a corpsman and instructor and then worked as a medic on the north slope of Alaska in the oil fields.

Linda was born in Waukegan, IL and spent her early days near Chicago. She was a school bus driver before becoming a nurse. And to make things more interesting, she raised Siberian Huskies and had a dog sledding team. She’s probably the only person you know in Baldwin County who has done that!

The Malys most recent move to Baldwin County was in 2023; they had joined a church but it wasn’t quite the right fit. They walked through the doors of CPC on Christmas Eve and they haven’t looked back. In Linda’s words: “The feelings of deep spirituality and love and warmth they felt, drew them in.”

We are so thankful to know the love and fellowship of The Malys! Let them know when you see them and hold close to your heart the tie that binds all of us together in Christian love.