Ray Wegrzyn was diagnosed with Parkinson’s just before turning 40, but he refused to let it define him. He died at the age of 70 after living with the disease for more than 30 years.
Early Life and Career
Born in Victoria Park, Manchester, Ray was the son of Josephine and Frank Wegrzyn, a Polish soldier and former prisoner of war who worked as a scaffolder and barman. Frank died in a road accident when Ray was three, leaving Josephine widowed with three young children. Growing up with that loss, Ray came to expect things not to work out, so that when they did, it was always a delight.
Bright but unconvinced by school, he walked out of his A-levels at Xaverian College and on the same day found a job at the Cambrian Unit, a special school for autistic and disabled children. There he met Dot Sansome, another carer, whom he married in 1977. They moved to Glossop, Derbyshire, in 1981.
He joined Greater Manchester Probation Service at age 19 on the new community service scheme, introduced in 1973, taking offenders to work placements instead of prison. By 21, he had his first full caseload. He qualified as a probation officer, working initially in Salford with young people and later on a community project run jointly with the police. He moved to Oldham but was promoted and from 1998 ran the entire Salford probation division, overseeing more than 90 staff.
Parkinson’s Diagnosis and Advocacy
Diagnosed with Parkinson’s just before turning 40, he refused to let it define him and kept working for another 16 years until 2011, when ill-health forced his retirement. He did not let that stop him. He channelled the same energy into Parkinson’s Equip, the charity he founded in 2013. It made grants to people with the disease who wanted to take part in sport and the arts, and came to support dance as a form of therapy.
He wrote Out of Order (2018), contributed to Chapter & Illuminating Verse, a book of poems about Parkinson’s (2011), and a children’s book explaining the condition to young people.
Personal Life and Legacy
In 2019, he was resuscitated by a stranger, Penny Overbury, who had first aid training and became a great friend, after a heart attack in Glossop town centre. In 2002, he was appointed one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Probation, assessing probation services across England and Wales. He believed people could change and that the work deserved honest engagement. He had no patience for doing things for appearance’s sake. “I made a small difference on a national scale,” he wrote. “That’s not bad for a lad from Longsight.”
He is survived by Dot, their sons Matthew and the author, and a granddaughter, Joanna.
