SUMTERVILLE, Fla. – In the Ray household, three words are held on high – especially at Christmas.

“Faith, family and friends,” said Stacy Ray.

But high atop the mantel this Christmas, there isn’t holly or tinsel. Instead, items to remember the man Stacy and Beverly Ray love.

“He was in the Air Force five years, five months,” said the pair.

This Christmas is the first without Donny Ray.

“Heartbreaking because it was so sudden. We are just very thankfully God didn’t take him at the scene. That he did give us those four days in the hospital to prepare, and to say bye with him,” said Beverly. 

He was killed while riding his motorcycle to work in March.  

“I set it up after everything happened, and I just wanted to keep another space for him,” said Stacy. 

His spot at the table remains set. No tree this year, decorated with ornaments. No extravagant decorations at all.

“Not having him here it is going to be pretty difficult. Especially for the first year, but yeah from here on out, it’s going to be hard,” said Stacy.

Instead of old holiday traditions, they are keeping to a new tradition. One they do multiple times a week. The pair visit his grave at the Florida National Cemetery.

“It’s a perfect spot,” said Beverly, as she and Stacy walk up to his white, marble headstone.

Donny rests on a hill among rows and rows of perfectly aligned headstones. This cemetery is more than just a final resting place, it’s where he worked for the last 11 years.

“They don’t make guys like Donny Ray anymore,” said Bradley Todd, Florida National Cemetery. “It’s been tough. But I go by his site, just about every other day to check on him.”

“He was always a family guy,” said Marine Corp veteran A.J. Parsons, Florida National Cemetery. “He was a straight shooter, and everything he said, he said with passion. He was a great guy.”

“Donny was a man’s man. Probably one of the best family guys I have ever met,” said Navy veteran Josimar Hall, Florida National Cemetery. “In a way it feels like something is missing. Like working here, like this place has lost a beat.”

To say his coworkers miss him is an understatement.

“He has left his print in this place,” said Army veteran Roberto Pizaro, Florida National Cemetery.

To honor their coworker and friend, they helped lay him to rest earlier this year. Then shortly after, all chipped in to raise funds to buy a bench in his honor. The bench sits between two old oak trees near Donny’s grave.

To Stacy and Beverly, it means the world to have the bench.

“They are our family. And there has been quite a few times if it wasn’t for them, I don’t know what we would have done,” said Beverly.

They have a place now to sit with comfort as they mourn.

“The biggest thing that keeps me going, like my why to keep going everyday is just for him to live through me. With everything that he has taught me,” said Stacy with tears in her eyes.

This Christmas and all to come, certainly won’t be the same. But they know, Donny’s love and memory will never leave them. It’s part of who they are now.  

“My family, my faith, and that I feel blessed. And I still do, even though he is gone, because I did get to love him,” said Beverly.

Beverly’s soulmate, Stacy’s loving dad, a faithful friend and solemn servicemen. Donny Ray will remain those things forever in each of their hearts.   

“Alright babe, we are done with our visit for today,” said Beverly. Stacy bends down and hugs her dad’s headstone.

“I love you. I love you and I miss you,” they both say as they turn and head home.

Donny’s family said there were two charities that support veterans close to his heart, 22 A Day and K9 for Warriors.