Ray wasn't always a chivalrous young man, however. He and JR of all people occasionally went carousing. Eventually Ray found a woman he liked very much... Pamela Barnes. They started dating, Ray thought it was getting serious too, so he took her to the 1977 Ewing Barbecue. It was there that he introduced her to Bobby Ewing. That meeting would end Ray's chance at having Pam for his wife, for Pam and Bobby fell for each other that night. It was awkward for Ray when in 1978 Pam came back to the ranch as Bobby's bride. He even tried to help JR break up the marriage; but Pam had a card to hold over Ray's head... she knew of his affair with Lucy. After that Ray tried to end his affair with Lucy, and pretty well did.

Ray would have other women catch his eye though. There was the night club singer Garnet McGee, whom he had hoped to marry, but found out she was just a tramp. She had slept with JR just to try to further her singing career. Then he met a woman with whom he would have his longest standing relationship-- Donna Culver, the wife of the former governor of Texas, Sam Culver. At first Ray didn't know he was having an affair with a married woman. He and Donna fell in love, but it wasn't their time to be together yet, so they broke up for a while.

Around this time Jock gave Ray a prime section of Southfork in celebration of his 20th year at the ranch. Ray later built a house on that property. Ray continued to get letters from Donna, but wouldn't open them. After Lucy nagged at him, he did read them and got back in touch with Donna. He found out that Donna had gone back with Sam Culver only because he was dying of cancer. Now that Sam was dead he and Donna were free to pursue a relationship, even though they were very different personalities. Ray was of course a ranch foreman, while Donna had much more complex interests... like politics. The couple would date each other for a while in 1980, then break up once again over their different life styles. Donna briefly dated Cliff Barnes, while Ray didn't really date anyone in this time frame. Ray was about to have his life changed in other ways.

Ray got quite a surprise one day when he was at his new house, when the man he had thought was his father, Amos Krebbs, was sitting on his porch one day. Ray naturally assumed the old man wanted some money, since he was a bum anyway, but that didn't turn out to be what Amos was after. Amos showed him his mother's diary, which said that Margaret had carried on an affair with Jock Ewing during World War II, and that Jock had fathered Ray during that affair. Ray didn't believe this until Jock himself confirmed it one night; Jock had Ray come up to Southfork one night and told the whole family that there was another Ewing son, and that Ray would be entitled to 1/4 of the Ewing trust fund. Shortly after this he and Donna reunited, and were married.

Jock started to include Ray in some of his business dealings, like the Takapa project. Ray was reluctant at first, but eventually got more adventurous and went on business deals with Punk Anderson.. He failed miserably in this one, and felt like a total loser. This caused problems in his marriage to Donna, who by then had written a best selling book about Sam Culver. During this time the family received the horrible news that Jock's helicopter had crashed in the jungles of South America. Ray accompanied JR and Bobby on their grim search for their father. All their efforts were fruitless, except for a necklace of Jock's that Bobby found in the lake. Ray was heartbroken, as was the rest of the family. Ray went on a bit of a drinking spell, and had a fling with a floozy he met in a bar. Still, the couple was able to patch things up in their marriage.

In 1983 Ray got a letter from his Aunt Lil in Kansas, telling him his "father" Amos Krebbs had died. Ray and Donna went back to Kansas for the funeral, and were appalled at the behavior of Lil's son Mickey. Ray brought the boy back to Dallas with him, to straighten him out, as Jock had done with him so many years before that. It wasn't an easy job, but Ray was finally able to straighten Mickey out. Early in 1983 Mickey was involved in a serious car accident when he tried to stop Sue Ellen from driving drunk. Ray got in a horrible fight with JR one night (Ray blamed JR for Mickey being in the condition he was in); the fight JR and Ray resulted in Southfork catching fire. Every one was able to get out, however. Mickey was left paralyzed and later suffered a seizure of some kind, and was left with no chance of recovery. Ray decided to pull the plug on Mickey's life support, and end his suffering. He was put on trial for murder, and was convicted, but got a suspended sentence.

After that major crisis in his life, Ray welcomed Clayton Farlow's increasing presence at Southfork. The two men were a lot alike, in their love of ranching, and in their personalities also. They became rather close. Ray was especially happy when Clayton and Miss Ellie got married.

Ray and Donna again went through a rough spell in their marriage. Donna had found out she was pregnant, but didn't want their baby to be the reason they got back together, if they were to at all, so she initially didn't tell him. (Dream season storylines follow). The couple did reunite after all; the baby Donna was carrying was found to have Down's syndrome, however. After some debating they decided to keep the baby and not abort it. This became a moot point when Donna miscarried. After a while they became quite attached to a hearing impaired boy named Tony, and after some problems made plans to adopt him.

Ray was eventually told of his impending fatherhood, but he and Donna drifted further apart, both emotionally and in physical distance...Donna was spending more and more time in Washington, DC pursuing her lobbying efforts on behalf of the oil industry. Ray was upset to find out about a Senator Dowling's increasing interest in Donna, and hers in Senator Dowling's. Back in Dallas Ray was making a new friend in Jenna Wade, who had recently been dumped when Bobby decided to re-unite with Pam, even after finding out Jenna was pregnant by him. Ray helped Jenna and her daughter Charlie move into a house across town, and tried to help Donna when Charlie got a rebellious streak in her. Ray and Jenna got closer as time went on; and it soon became evident that Ray's marriage to Donna was about over. Ray briefly considered fighting Donna for the custody of their child, but decided against it. Donna gave birth to her and Ray's daughter, and named her Margaret, after Ray's mother. Ray was quite touched by her gesture, but the couple divorced soon after. Donna was going to live in Washington permanently; Ray was allowed to come visit his daughter whenever he wanted to.

This left Ray free to pursue a relationship with Jenna, and he did. The couple were married in 1987. Soon though, Charlie's rebellious streak got to be rather serious. She was hanging with a bad crowd of teenagers, to the point Ray and Jenna felt they were left without too many options. Jenna and Charlie were away on a trip when Ray had an affair with a woman who became quite obsessed with him, and even tried to kill him. Ray told Jenna of his infidelity; she was hurt, of course. The couple decided to start over away from Dallas, and away from the whole United States.. they decided to move to Switzerland, where they had found a nice boarding school for Charlie to attend. Jenna had given birth to Bobby's son by this time, though Ray came to think of him as his own. Ray had Clayton Farlow sell his ranch, and he and his family left the country. He did come back to visit one time, to find the family involved in a range war with the man who had bought his ranch, Carter McKay. That soon was resolved, but not without bloodshed. (This wasn't Ray's only scrape with the law.--- he had been involved in the killing of one BD Calhoun, a terrorist of sorts that JR got mixed up with, to the point that Calhoun kidnapped John Ross, but that's another story). Ray left Dallas to go back to his family in Europe. (This was his last appearance until the last episode of the TV show).

In 1998, Ray returned to Dallas and eventually revealed to Bobby that he was broke. His reason for his return was that he was hired by a European oil company to do some work in Texas. At about the same time, J.R. found out that there was oil underneath Ray's ranch. J.R. wanted to use the oil reserves under the land as collateral to get Ewing Oil back, but wasn't sure how to get it from Ray. However, Carter McKay was also after the land under Ray's ranch. Both ended up in a bidding war to get the land from Ray, however, Peter Ellington, one of McKay's associates, held Sue Ellen at gunpoint and threatened to kill her if J.R. got the ranch. J.R. let McKay get the high bid and McKay and Ray signed the papers. J.R. was quick to reveal to McKay that Jock had deeded mineral rights to his grandchildren's trust fun. McKay had just paid 50 million for a piece of worthless land!

The followed occurred on Return to Southfork

A month later, Ray returned to Southfork with Jenna and Lucas, where they spent several months. Tension broke out when Jenna realized she still had feelings for Ray and was involved in a plane crash with Bobby. While stranded in the Alps, Jenna and Bobby kissed. Eventually, Ray's relationship with Jenna crumbled and weeks later, Jenna committed suicide. By that time, Donna had come back into Ray's life, but she was still married to Andrew Dowling. Dowling later died of Huntington's disease and Donna and Margaret permanently moved to Dallas. By this time, Dusty Farlow had bought Ray's ranch from McKay, but Dusty died only weeks later, leaving the ranch to Clayton in his will. As a gesture of friendship to Ray, Clayton gave him the ranch.

The happiness didn't last long though. Lucas didn't like the idea of Ray and Donna being together. To top things off, Donna decided to run for mayor and it made Ray feel like "Mr. Donna Dowling." He bought the former Cattleman's Club (now a strip club) and decided to renovate it and re-open it as the Cattleman's Club. While working there, he met Jenna Evans. Jenna was hired by J.R. to sleep with Ray. After she did, he'd have material to blackmail Ray for a large percentage of an oil company that J.R. needed to acquire.

Meanwhile, Lucas continued to cause serious problems for Ray and Donna and Ray had to sit back and watch as his relationship to Donna deteriorated. He began to find himself attracted to Jenna and even now, he continues to battle his feelings for her.

Can he and Donna overcome their differences and stay together? A wedding may or may not be in the cards for Ray Krebbs.