Honorees

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Year Honored
2013
Honoree
Ray Shriver
Title
SAR Member
Agency
Teton County Sheriff's Search & Rescue
Agency City
Jackson
Agency State
WY
Last Call
2/15/11
Cause of Death
Other Trauma
Biography
Ray Shriver survived an avalanche in 1991 while skiing with his sons Matt and Zach. Then he asked the question, "Why was I spared?" That question led him to search and rescue work. A few months after the avalanche in 1992 the Teton County, Wyoming Sheriff's Department formed a volunteer SAR group. Shriver signed up and was a dedicated member ever since and had been involved in more than 400 missions.<br /> <br /> A 1966 graduate of Salina Central High School, Ray enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserves in 1968 and was called to active duty in 1971, serving a tour of duty in Nurnberg, Germany. He was honorably discharged from military service in 1973. Ray expressed a deep love for the mountains and the outdoors. "All his life, he wanted to live in the mountains," said his mother, Mary Shriver. "Ray was a nature lover, and a very private man," she said. "He lived like he wanted to, and I'm very proud of him."<br /> <br /> Ray was a dedicated volunteer who put his heart and soul into his volunteerism through search and rescues. He was widely respected and recognized as someone who took the necessary training and countless hours that go into being prepared for any rescue. Shriver was quiet but possessed a wealth of knowledge. "He was a teacher." He was always the voice of reason and always the most considerate of a rescuer's safety, first and foremost. If you knew Ray, you could tell what he was thinking by what he wasn't saying. As things got more serious, Ray usually got quieter. He was the calm in the storm, a man who never lost his temper or his focus. In July 2000, Shriver took part in one of the Search and Rescue team's most famous missions when actor and part-time resident Harrison Ford volunteered his helicopter to recover a dehydrated hiker.<br /> <br /> On February 15, 2011, Shriver and another volunteer boarded a helicopter with a pilot and headed off to locate a snowmobiler that had crashed. The crew had located members of the snowmobiling party and landed to make contact with them. The members of the party offered to lead the helicopter to the crash site and the search team took off again. However, shortly after taking off, witnesses reported seeing the tail rotor of the helicopter stop spinning and the craft crashed behind a ridgeline. A second rescue effort was established and the crash was located in a wooded ravine. The pilot and other rescuer sustained non-life threatening injuries. Ray was more seriously injured and as a result, died of his injuries.<br /> <br /> Honored 2013