Well known automotive business owner and avid horse and buggy driver William ?Cheese? Ray was to undergo surgery yesterday after he suffered an aneurysm on Sunday.

Mr. Ray, who just recently turned 80, was flown out to the United States in the early hours of Monday morning after he collapsed while driving his horses on Sunday.

?We?re just praying for him to pull through,? said a family member who did not wish to be named.

Many family members have flown out to be with the man whose wife, Josie, was knocked down in February by a mugger while she was picking up her mail at the Southampton Post Office. She has been in and out of a coma ever since.

Mrs. Ray was flown back to the Island in October after receiving treatment overseas and although she was making progress in the overseas hospital she regressed due to illness back in Bermuda.

Tyrone Brangman, 16, pleaded guilty to robbing the 77-year-old woman and he was given three years probation due mostly to Mr. Ray?s victim impact statement.