Father of FarmWatch 'Perfect Ray' dies at age 74

Ray Galawan, lifelong Richmond machinist, fisherman and farmer who, in 2013, blew the whistle on rampant destruction of local farmland, has passed away at the age of 74.

Described by family and friends as a hard-working, salt of the earth character, Galawan was an otherwise quiet individual, uninterested in politics — until January, 2013, that is.

Then, he drove a tractor down No. 3 Road and delivered a pile of concrete and junk to city hall, in a rare scene of civil disobedience in Richmond.

In confronting illegal and/or unregulated dumping of construction waste on farmland, Galawan put a mark on Richmond’s history, in the footsteps of his great grandfather, pioneer Thomas Kidd. His caravan of protesters and Finn Road farm blockade led to a new soil protection bylaw in the city and the Soil Watch program, now seen across the region.

Today, Galawan’s legacy — via the grassroots group FarmWatch, which he founded in 2013 — is set to play an ambitious role in the upcoming civic election, least to mention the future preservation of farmland in Richmond.

His ‘how do you like that?’ moment at city hall (he also visited Premier Christy Clark’s offices in Vancouver) was a “step out of character,” according to Margaret Galawan, who will remember her husband of 45 years at a service July 25.

“It was not his thing at all. He didn’t like politics.

“His big enjoyment was kids, his family and his love of the land,” said Margaret.

Galawan, who died May 30, was born in Vancouver in 1943 and grew up in south Richmond, on a No. 4 Road farmhouse. He was a member of the first graduating class of Steveston High. His life was one of hard work, marked by strong friendships and family bonds, said Margaret. He raised two sons, Richard and Randy, in a house he built next to his childhood home. Randy passed away in 2016 and Richard is now raising his own family in the Galawan family home.

Galawan, said Margaret, liked all the “regular stuff” living in rural Richmond, such as hunting game, fishing and taking his kids camping between his 35-year career as a machinist and foreman at Vancouver School District.

“There was nothing he couldn’t fix or repair. He was a machinist and he could make just about anything,” said Margaret.

With hands like tools, Galawan kept a keen eye on friends and young farmers who needed help. In fact, it was his penchant for farming and his childhood friend-turned-farmer Bob Featherstone that galvanized him to protest farmland dumping on a nearby farm on Finn Road.

“The site was originally my father’s farm,” explained Featherstone.

“I was born and raised on it. When Ray came to me saying there was illegal dumping we got quite concerned — it’s some of the best farmland in the Fraser Valley. He blocked the entrance for trucks. It went on for months. Ray got it all started; he was the head honcho.” 

Other than the heroics of 2013, Galawan tended to “stay in the background,” said Margaret.

“He was the type of person who never wants to go to the party, but when he got there, he was last to leave because he was talking to all his friends,” she said.

Childhood friend-turned-commercial fisherman Gus Jacobson said Galawan’s knowledge was “priceless.”

Jacobson said Galawan “never did anything half-assed. He took the time to do it right. He did it once and it wouldn’t need to be done again. We called him Perfect Ray; because he always did things on the money.

“He did his homework. When he gave you an answer, the answer was right. When you tried to B.S. him, there’s no way you’d win,” said Jacobson.

Beyond retirement, Galawan would help Featherstone farm and Jacobson fish. The men took on various projects around the Fraser River, including restoring farmland on a South Arm island for conservation group Ducks Unlimited.

“He was the most-nicest person you could ever get. He helped everybody. There wasn’t a thing that he couldnt do,” said Jacobson, adding Galawan was a farmer at heart who likely mourned the acreage his father sold in the early 1970s.

“I think his real love would have been to be a farmer. I think it may have hurt him when his dad sold the farm,” said Jacobson.

“The farming was always in his blood. He’d say, ‘Bob can I take a tractor out?’ That was his happier times,” said Featherstone.

In its own online tribute, FarmWatch noted Galawan, although silent publicly, was “outraged at the construction of mansions on farmland, particularly the one he called a hotel, just up the road from his farm.”

Featherstone concurred, “It’s a bad thing what’s going on here.”

Margaret said Galawan was “disgusted” by past inaction and recent actions by some city council members.

Friends said he wore his “Save Our Farmland” t-shirt every day, until the end.