Ray Ward enjoys national and overseas respect as an Air Force historian, and represented the Department of Defense abroad during the WW II 50th Anniversary ceremonies. He has been accorded a life membership in the Association of Graduates, USAF Academy, and is a life member of the 8th Air Force Historical Society and the 44th and 376th Bomb Group associations. He is a Cornellian (War Class of '43), and a graduate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Insitute for Organization Management. "Twirly Birds", an organization of pioneer helicopter pilots, lists Ward as one of 18 remaining founder members (founders flew Army helicopters before August 1945).
 
    Ray managed significant programs of the Pennsylvania Museum and Historical Commission, and is a past commander of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil  War. His friendship among the Seneca gained him the name He-Who-Shows-the-Way. In his youth, Ray wrote for CBS and NBC and was a bureau chief, columnist, and editor. His bureau assignment was with the Gannett - USA  parent newspaper, the Elmira (NY) Star Gazette.