Williams, Ray E.

Historical Background

Ray E. Williams is an environmental activist in Newport Beach, a city in Orange County, California. He was a member of the Friends of Newport Bay, serving as president from 1973 to 1976, and was a member of the Newport Beach City Council from 1976 to 1980. He also taught at California High School in Whittier for 12 years and then joined the faculty at Rio Hondo College as an environmental biologist. He worked to preserve Upper Newport Bay's wildlife and natural environment, eventually becoming involved in the creation of the Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve, which was established in 1975.

Williams was born in Los Angeles, California in 1933. His father was the librarian at Whittier High School and the family relocated to Newport Beach each summer, living in a tent camp on 19th Street for a few weeks up to two months from about 1938 to 1942. He lived in Newport Beach as an adult from 1969 to 1981.

Williams took an evening class at UC Irvine in 1969 after he had started teaching at Rio Hondo College. The class, aimed at teachers, was about Orange County environmental problems and issues. Williams worked with a group on a class project that focused on the Upper Newport Bay, also known as the Back Bay. He attended a tour of the Back Bay with Bob Fry, a Newport Harbor High School teacher, as tour leader. Williams got involved after the tour and was heavily involved with the organization for the next 10 years.

Williams' main involvement in Friends of Newport Bay began in 1973, following successful efforts by local activists to save the Upper Newport Bay from development by halting a land exchange between Orange County and the Irvine Company. The organization was asked what they wanted for the future of the Back Bay, and environmental activists Frank and Frances Robinson led a group of about a dozen citizens to prepare a plan for a park reserve, for which Williams was a spokesperson. The Friends of Newport Bay was founded in 1967, later renamed Newport Bay Naturalists and Friends after merging with the Upper Newport Bay Naturalists in 2000, then the Newport Bay Conservancy in 2010.

Williams got involved in Newport Beach politics through an appointment to the Newport Beach Planning Commission, after which he was elected to the Newport Beach City Council. The major issues during his years on the city council were a senior citizens center and efforts to slow growth. From 1978 to 1980, Williams and other environmentalists led the Newport Beach City Council with a five to two majority. Williams served as mayor pro tem from 1978 to 1980. In the 1980 election, Williams and Mayor Paul Ryckoff, the two incumbents, were defeated by a three to one margin.

Williams retired from full-time teaching at Rio Honda College in May 2006, continuing to teach part-time thereafter. He retired as a guide for monthly Back Bay tours in 2006. He was elected to the Board of Directors of the Newport Bay Conservancy in 2011.

From the guide to the Ray E. Williams files on Newport Bay environmental issues, Bulk, 1968-1988, 1942-2003, (Special Collections and Archives, University of California, Irvine Libraries)