Ray

Stories of St. Edward

The Ray meeting space is named for the Washington Governor Dixy Lee Ray. Ray shepherded the purchase of the land from the Archdiocese of Seattle in 1977 after the closure of Saint Edward Seminary. The State of Washington purchased most of the property (316 acres) with the assistance of a Land and Water Conservation Fund grant from the National Park Service and the Washington Interagency Committee for Outdoor Recreation. The land then became Saint Edward State Park, which is the pristine park The Lodge is located in today. The neighboring grounds of Saint Thomas Seminary (renamed Saint Thomas Center) were leased by Bastyr University, and subsequently purchased by the university in 2005.

Governor Ray at her desk, 1977-1981

_{State Library Photograph Collection, 1851-1990, Washington State Archives.}