Lawrence “Ray” Brantley boasted that he could sell almost anything to anybody out of his Dallas hardware and sporting goods store.
Customers at Ray’s Hardware and Sporting Goods included the notable and the notorious. The notable being President Lyndon B. Johnson, who purchased several guns from Mr. Brantley and had Secret Service agents pick them up.
The most notorious was Jack Ruby, who went to Mr. Brantley’s store to buy the .38-caliber Colt Cobra that he later used to kill accused presidential assassin Lee Harvey Oswald.
Mr. Brantley, 75, died on Tuesday in Dallas of complications from surgery performed in late September. Services and burial will be in Arkadelphia, Ark., although the day and time are pending.
“He could talk people into anything,” said Chuck Payne, who worked at Ray’s for 31 years.
Brantley, born in Hot Springs, Ark., developed his sales skills by selling newspapers in his hometown, family members said. After serving as a Navy medical corpsman during World War II, he moved to Dallas in 1949 to test his business skills.
He opened his first store in a building his uncle owned. “He got his first gun because someone traded him one for a washtub,” Payne said. “He sold the gun and got a lot more money for it than he would have for a washtub.”
As the business grew, Mr. Brantley purchased property a block away where he built the current store, Payne said.
“Ray specialized in having hard-to-get guns,” Payne said.
That commitment to service attracted Johnson’s attention. The president had a Secret Service agent fly to Dallas to pick up the guns Johnson wanted, Payne said.
