Ralph lived life to the fullest. An ROTC artillery officer, he spent time in 'nam as an air forward observer calling in artillery and air strike targets. Probably second riskiest position after that of an infantryman crawling around in the rice patties. Roomed with him at PSU for a semester. He pushed me, Harry Thorpe and Al Bowman to enter intramural basketball and lo and behold we managed to win the main campus championship . Judy and I enjoyed watching PSU nip Georgia (Hershel Walker Heisman?) in the '83 New Orleans Sugar Bowl with Ralph, Lindy(?) as guests of Molly and Harry Thorpe. Ralph travelled extensively internationally with an Australian friend (Di) who told us he once stood up solo after the fans at the Australian Tennis Open had finished their national anthem and sang ours to a round of applause. Not a shy guy. He also travelled on an around the world trip with a Texas friend (Marta) after settling in Florida, buying/building a commercial business and acquiring a large catamaran which he shipped to Australia on a freighter, while living on it. He would readily admit, maybe even brag sometimes about his hedonistic lifestyle and he was well aware there was some appreciable emotional pain associated, and left behind, with it. Most people didn't know his dad died when Ralph was something like 12 or 13 yrs old leaving him to live with just his mom who worked and took in renters to make ends meet. Actually, thought we may have been at his home with Harry and Molly and others the day Buzz landed, 1969. When we returned from West Germany bumped into Ralph as he began working for GE in Philly. We both had tickets to a Phillies playoff game and he insisted his were better. Told him I had to attend with fellow employees and we had some really excellent seats also. While sitting in the very last row right field during the game and using binoculars I spied Ralph sitting in the very last row in left field. One might guess we both ended up in marketing and sales positions. To the end (last spoke with him 4 or 5 weeks ago) we differed dramatically about all things political, though not quite as much the last several yrs. Always curiously interesting to be in his presence. RIP ☮️ Ralph!
George F. Ciotti (1961)
so sad !
another one of our class has left us ...
William Schreiber (1961)
Ralph lived life to the fullest. An ROTC artillery officer, he spent time in 'nam as an air forward observer calling in artillery and air strike targets. Probably second riskiest position after that of an infantryman crawling around in the rice patties. Roomed with him at PSU for a semester. He pushed me, Harry Thorpe and Al Bowman to enter intramural basketball and lo and behold we managed to win the main campus championship . Judy and I enjoyed watching PSU nip Georgia (Hershel Walker Heisman?) in the '83 New Orleans Sugar Bowl with Ralph, Lindy(?) as guests of Molly and Harry Thorpe. Ralph travelled extensively internationally with an Australian friend (Di) who told us he once stood up solo after the fans at the Australian Tennis Open had finished their national anthem and sang ours to a round of applause. Not a shy guy. He also travelled on an around the world trip with a Texas friend (Marta) after settling in Florida, buying/building a commercial business and acquiring a large catamaran which he shipped to Australia on a freighter, while living on it. He would readily admit, maybe even brag sometimes about his hedonistic lifestyle and he was well aware there was some appreciable emotional pain associated, and left behind, with it. Most people didn't know his dad died when Ralph was something like 12 or 13 yrs old leaving him to live with just his mom who worked and took in renters to make ends meet. Actually, thought we may have been at his home with Harry and Molly and others the day Buzz landed, 1969. When we returned from West Germany bumped into Ralph as he began working for GE in Philly. We both had tickets to a Phillies playoff game and he insisted his were better. Told him I had to attend with fellow employees and we had some really excellent seats also. While sitting in the very last row right field during the game and using binoculars I spied Ralph sitting in the very last row in left field. One might guess we both ended up in marketing and sales positions. To the end (last spoke with him 4 or 5 weeks ago) we differed dramatically about all things political, though not quite as much the last several yrs. Always curiously interesting to be in his presence. RIP ☮️ Ralph!