Ray Vincler

Ray J. Vincler was a very hard working man on and off the boat. We all know that
while fishermen are out at sea they work VERY hard. During the off season, Ray kept
that same work ethic. He was always busy building something around his parents’
house. He worked hard for everything that he had in order to do what he did while
not gone for months fishing in the Bering Sea.
It was easy to see that his main passion was being out on the water. Growing up in
Akutan, he was taught to hunt and fish from his uncle. As an adult, that’s where you
could be sure to find him. In the summer months when he wasn’t out crab fishing he
would fish for halibut commercially and for subsistence. His mom and grandfather
taught him to always share his catch, so when he come in from subsistence fishing
he would hand out all the fish that he had gotten that day to the elders of the
village.
He also loved salmon fishing in the summer. He made some of the best smoked
salmon around. He built his own smoker and learned the family recipe for smoking
salmon from his uncle and dad, which was learned from his grandfather. There were
a few times that people asked him his recipe for his smoked fish but he would
always just smile at them and say “it is a secret.”
Ray always embraced his Aleut culture. During the last few years his boys Bryce
and Nate were getting to the age where he could teach them about the culture and
fishing. That was when Ray seemed happiest, when he was teaching his two sons
about the stuff he loved to do. He loved taking them out on the water for hunting
and fishing and out around the island for picnics. Off the islands and the water, Ray
spent time in Washington with his boys. When he had the chance to go to
Washington during the school year he loved taking his boys to their basketball
practices and to games. He was a proud father watching his boys play the game
that he loved too. Toward the end of summer vacations in Akutan, he would take his
boys on trips to theme parks in Washington and California.
The few things that I think Ray would want you to have learned from him is not to
take everything seriously, not to hold grudges and to forgive quickly