Collette D'Ray

She was born in poverty along the banks of the Ohio River in southern Indiana and had no less than sixteen brothers and sisters. Her latter teenage years were spent in Evansville in the defense industry during WWII where she worked as a welder in a shipyard and then as a riveter in an aircraft factory. While seeking her dream of self reliance she moved to Indianapolis and landed a job as a chorus girl at the Fox Theater simply by showing the manager her legs to just above the knees. From there she went on to become a feature dancer before moving on first to Detroit and then Chicago where none other than Harold Minsky gave her the name of Collette D'Ray. At one time her name was on the marquee at three different night clubs in Chicago at the same time but at each she was know by a different aka. Yolinda, and Delores Frazier were two of her other commonly used aka's. She was romanced by the rich and famous of the entertainment industry but went on to marry a simple drummer and band leader who could give her nothing more than happiness for the rest of their lives together. They went into business by purchasing and operating a family resort on the eastern shores of Lake Michigan where she became a community leader and respected member of the Chamber of Commerce. She taught modeling and poise to many of the area's well to do young ladies and was annually involved in Michigan's Miss America preliminary competition. The due respect ladies of that small community could never imagine where she learned to dress the way she dressed and walk the way she walked. They said she walked like a panther on the prowl. She retired from her stage career before the locals ever found out her background but not before she appeared in the movie "Naughty New Orleans" in order to make another payment on their resort. She was still modeling bathing suits in Florida when she was in her late forties and later appeared on television on a doctor's show as an example of a woman in her seventies who still has her youthful bloom.