The motorcade that carried the remains of former Iowa Governor Robert D. Ray from the funeral home to the state capitol where he lay in state Thursday night did not take the most direct route.

Instead, it slowly rounded the bases of Ray’s life like the last home run trot of a great slugger who first stepped to the electoral plate as president of his 7th grade class at Callanan Middle School, nee Junior High.

Ray also attended now defunct Grant Elementary and graduated from Roosevelt High in 1946 before enlisting in the US Army.

As the motorcade routed down Polk Boulevard, beneath the sycamores that fringe the pretty Roosevelt campus, onlookers gathered to wave goodbye to one of the all-time Roughriders.

Central to Ray’s broad and enduring legacy is the leading role he played in offering sanctuary for Southeast Asian refugees in the wake of the Vietnam War. When President Gerald Ford appealed to US governors to open their states to them, Ray alone answered the call by welcoming thousands to Iowa.

One of the many who are forever grateful to Ray and his generous open-door policy is Vinh Nguyen, who found his way to Iowa in 1982 when he was 21 and has worked for DMPS for 31 years. Nguyen pays that humane spirit forward every day in his role as ELL Supervisor, welcoming refugees from all over the world and facilitating their assimilation into new ways of life.

Nguyen is a leader in the Iowa Asian Alliance and was one of those honored to place a wreath on Ray’s casket in the capitol rotunda Thursday, a token of appreciation and farewell on behalf of the substantial Asian community that has sprung up in the Des Moines area thanks to the beloved five-term governor.

“In 1979 he saved the ‘Boat People’ and I was one of them,” said Nguyen. “Among the Southeast Asians, he is our godfather, the protector, the savior…”

The capitol rotunda is like the bullseye of Iowa, a spot targeted by political partisans for boisterous rallies and protests. When the legislature is out of session, its grandeur inspires oohs and aahs from tour groups visiting the statehouse. But Thursday it was reverently silent except for the footfalls of the uniformed escorts ushering the flag-draped casket of a man whose leadership represents one of Iowa’s finest hours and whose death gives pause for one of its most somber moments.

Governor Ray’s wife Billie, their three daughters and eight grandchildren are also DMPS alums. The family’s roots run deep in this school district. Des Moines Public Schools joins with all Iowans in mourning the loss of a great man whose impact was eternal.