Fifty-six-year-old Ray McCarthy is gone, but he won’t soon be forgotten. The PGA Golf Club member’s golf cart has been refurbished, repainted and donated to the St. Lucie County Fire Department for use in special events such as parades and the upcoming St. Lucie County Fair.
“He had an amazing sense of humor,” said Lee, Ray’s widow. She said it was hard to tell sometimes if he was kidding you or being serious. “It drove me nuts!”
Looking over her shoulder at the golf cart, Lee McCarthy smiled.
“I’m sure he’s amazed by that,” she said of the new life brought to his old golf cart. “It’s incredible.”
Ray McCarthy passed in January due to complications following the removal of tumors in his abdomen last year. An avid golfer at the PGA Golf Club, he had his own golf cart, which Lee McCarthy suddenly no longer had use for.
She reached out to her husband’s golfing buddy Tim Legel to see about rehoming it. Without a second thought, he bought it from Lee, knowing he’d come up with a plan for the golf cart. So he kicked around ideas and shared his thoughts with others, including Kevin Dougherty, a fellow golfer and the chair of the Fire Ball Drop fund-raiser for the Sammy Sartoris T21 Friendship Foundation, which benefits those with Down Syndrome.
Gears churning, they decided to get the golf cart spruced up and donate it to the St. Lucie County Fire District.
“We’re just really delighted and surprised,” said Fire Chief Nate Spera, who was at the Celebration of Life event for Ray McCarthy when the golf cart was presented.
The chief said he suspects the department will use it to help get paramedics and their gear to those in need quickly when in large crowds. The golf cart will be housed at Station 14 in St. Lucie West when not in use.
Lt. Joseph Waters was the first of the fire department to get behind the wheel.
“That handles nicely,” he said after taking a quick trip along the cart path at the clubhouse.
Waters drives a 60-foot fire truck, and said there’s no comparing the two vehicles.
“It’s an honor,” he said of receiving the golf cart.
Waters has been the point of contact for the fire department with the Sammy Sartoris T21 Friendship Foundation, bringing the ladder truck that dumps the golf balls during the Fire Ball Drop fund-raiser.
The golf cart, the foundation and the fire department are all connected in some way to each other.
Ray McCarthy loved golf – as did Sammy Sartoris, for whom the foundation was named – and the fire department has been a supporter of the foundation.
“The fire department has been amazing to our foundation,” said MaryAnn Sartoris, Sammy’s mother. Sammy, who had Down Syndrome, passed away at the age of 15. The Friendship Foundation serves as a way to preserve his memory as well as enhance the welfare of individuals with Down Syndrome and other disabilities, to promote friendships, and to educate the public about Down Syndrome.
MaryAnn and her husband, Vincent, hope to host another Fire Ball Drop at the PGA Golf Club later this year.
For more information about the foundation or the fund-raiser, visit www.sammysartoris-t21.org.