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.