By Gretchen Keiser

Forty years ago, J. Leslie Ray came to Rockdale County, Georgia, without much notice, to begin making a barn into a temporary shelter for a community of monks.

He had been sent by Dom Frederic Dunne, abbot of the Gethsemani monastery in Kentucky, where he had already been working, building some of that community’s farm buildings and other structures. “Les” Ray was married, and a father of three children, “a builder” in the words of his old friends in the Trappist community at Conyers. He wasn’t a monk and yet, he and his family are an integral part of the community which arose on the grounds of a former plantation in Conyers.

Les Ray came before the first group of 20 monks were sent from Gethsemani to Conyers to start the new Trappist community in 1944. He began from scratch to make a place ready for the first monks to stay. And he remained as building supervisor over the following decades, seeing that site become the home first of a temporary monastery and, slowly, of the permanent cluster of monastic, retreat and farm buildings and the breathtaking church.

On Dec. 30, 1983, Les Ray, 80, died at his home on a hill on the monastery grounds where he and his wife, Ethel, have lived in recent years. He had asked that the funeral Mass be celebrated at the Monastery church and so it was, on Monday afternoon, Jan. 2. It is believed to be the first time that a funeral was held there for someone who was not a professed member of the Trappist community.

Father Augustine Moore, abbot at Conyers for 26 years who was sent out from Gethsemani to Conyers in August, 1944, said in brief remarks before celebrating the Mass that the arched and serene church was Les Ray’s monument.

While it is well known that the monks were the builders of the monastery, Ray’s role is less well known, except to those who worked by his side over those years. Father Joachim, who was one of the first 20 monks, said that it would be impossible to overstate the contribution Les Ray made to the community.

The pressure during the first months of 1944, he recalled, was to complete the temporary monastery so that the monks did not have to spend the winter months in the drafty and crack-filled barn, which was their first home.

Ray drew the plans for the temporary monastery himself, his family recalled in an interview last week, and hired the carpenters who did the skilled work that could not be done by the monks themselves. Along with the community of monks, he and the carpenters worked every Saturday during the first year to meet the weather-dedicated schedule, Father Joachim said.

That experience is described by Thomas Merton in his book “The Waters of Siloe.” He says, in part, that the interior of the temporary monastery was ready for the monks to move in by the Vigil of the Immaculate Conception, Dec. 7, 1944. “It was just in time,” Merton wrote. “That morning the water had frozen in the cruets while the priests were saying Mass for the last time in the hayloft.”

As the building continued, Ray oversaw all of the workers and suppliers and translated the architects’ designs into the actual forms they assumed. At his suggestion and urging, his family said, the original architects from Louisville, Ky. were replaced with Atlanta architects who could work closely with the community as building progressed. Ray directed the work of the monks and novices who flocked to the community during the years of building and poured hours of work into the creation of the Monastery of Our Lady of the Holy Ghost.

The centerpiece, the church, took eight years to complete, Father Joachim recalled. The graceful arches are poured concrete which soar 60 feet high. They were created in sections, pouring concrete into wooden forms that rose layer by layer within a labyrinth of scaffolding in the church. The roof is slate. Throughout the work, Father Joachim said, Ray “was so calm and gentle. I never saw him scold anybody.” He marveled at his patience and even, steady disposition which surpassed that of many seeking to develop such qualities. The monks credited his care with preventing any serious accident from taking place there during all the years of building.

Mrs. Ray said that her husband had no formal training in architecture or engineering, but was naturally gifted. He had worked with his father selling building materials and supplies in Kentucky and then for the DuPont Company as a general superintendent in several states before leaving the company to return to Kentucky. It was at that point that he became a part of the history of the Trappist community, following the dictate of Dom Frederic Dunne and leaving Gethsemani for Conyers.

His wife of 60 years said her husband “never hesitated” to come to Georgia. His eldest son, James, said his father’s work was “a labor of love” that was never measured by worldly standards. He contributed to the building of four Trappist communities, in South Carolina and Utah as well as Gethsemani and Conyers.

When Dom Frederic Dunne first brought him to the plantation site, they stood in the middle of a field with a hand-held compass, Mrs. Ray said, and the abbot showed her husband how he wanted the building aligned.

Father Joachim recalled another story. The original architects drew up all the plans for the site and Dom Frederic brought them to Ray and said, “Can you build this in 25 years?”

Ray replied, “Yes, I think so,” Father Joachim recalled. The priest added, with quiet admiration, “Actually, it took us 25 years and three months.”

In addition to his wife, Ethel, Mr. Ray is survived by his son, James Jr. of Columbia, Ala., his son, William P. of Solon, Ohio, his son-in-law, Dr. H.K. Ford of Decatur, his brother, W. Cooper Ray of Louisville; nine grandchildren and nine great grandchildren. A daughter, Jean, is deceased.

After his death the family invited those who wished to remember him to make a contribution to the Monastery of the Holy Spirit.

“Nearly all the construction of the monastery has been directed through the years by Mr. J. Leslie Ray, who has devoted his life to working with the Monks. Dom Augustine said that he wanted to take this occasion to express publicly the thanks of the entire community for the tremendous evidence of love, faith and devotion that Mr. Ray has shown through the years. While most of the work has been done by the Monks, it could never have been accomplished without the guidance and knowledge of such a man as Mr. Ray.” (From the Nov. 26, 1960 issue of The Bulletin.)