Gloria read the inscription at the original presser as “Ray” not Roy.
The wording is very odd. Until you realize it was a high school kid poem.
“To a sweeter girl I could not say
Merry Christmas,
Love, Ray”
Very good! Didn’t think of it that way when I read it but I believe you are correct!
If you look at the “ay” in “say” and the “ay” in “Ray”, you can see they are exactly the same.
The wording is very odd. Until you realize it was a high school kid poem.Duh! (smacks forehead with butt of palm)“To a sweeter girl I could not sayMerry Christmas,
Love, Ray”
That interpretation original to you? (I know others have suggested that it was “Ray” rather than “Roy.” But I never sounded it out and heard it as a rhyme. When you point it out, the meaning is inescapable.
“To a sweeter girl I could not say
Merry Christmas, Love, Ray”
I think you pretty much solved it. Next step is to look through her classmates and see if there was a Ray there, probably one who is dead now and can't step up and say, "No, that was me."