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CIU 5 u He Furnish \ nq s November and the delivery men were likely thankful that a freight elevator had been installed. City resident Ross Van Slyke began delivering furniture with co-worker Bill Coveney in November, 1956. His salary was about $40 a week. He remembers the furniture came by train to the CNR station and was then delivered to the store by CNR employees. Van Slyke says Harley Wray was "a wonderful man" who "meant what he said and said what he meant." Comptroller Ruth Burshaw of Belleville agrees it was a good place to work, saying it was "like a family." That feeling may have been shared by patrons. "We had customers that were there for years and years. They always came back to Wray's," she says. Other employees Burshaw remembers were salesman Robert Barlow, carpet installer and later salesman Harold Neill, delivery man Don Vance, salesman Bernard Haidinger and part-time staff. In 1974 or '75, the company opened a second store, Warehouse Carpet Sales, on Pinnacle Street. Henry Wilson was the manager and Wayne Van Home was a salesman. The business operated until 1981 or '82. The Salvation Army currently occupies that space. After nearly 80 years in business, Wray's quietly closed its doors in March, 1989. Bob Wray Sr. sharing a drink with a friend.