Ralph William Eister
February14, 1920 – October 21, 2015
Ralph made his life a wonderful life of caring for others and being a natural leader.
He was born on Valentine’s Day, 1920, in Fort Wayne, Indiana, to Allen Bertram and Helen Louise (Wardell) Eister. At an early age he was fascinated with trains, planes and automobiles.
Bert worked for Pennsylvania Railroad and, at the age of 12, Ralph and his older brother Allen traveled across the U.S. for three months visiting New Orleans, Santa Fe, Los Angeles, Seattle and other major cities via free family member rail passes. During the depression Ralph worked two jobs before and after school, and at age 13 he was a grease monkey and a milkman, obtaining a commercial drivers license. When his parents received 10 cents back on the dollar after their bank crashed in ’29, he persuaded them to purchase a new ‘35 Plymouth and drove the new car out of the factory in Detroit to the family home in Convoy. Ohio. He graduated from Ohio State in the spring of 1944 with a degree in Dairy Technology and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Army Infantry. He was wounded at the Battle of Remagen and upon recovery was assigned as commander of a POW camp in the south of France.
He married the lovely Mary Lucille Stotts in 1949. Their only son, Larry, was born in 1952. Ralph worked for Borden’s Ice Cream for 24 years, oversaw the design and construction of a large specialty ice cream plant in Fort Wayne and ran the facility for many years as Plant Manager. He finished his working career at General Electric as Production Maintenance Manager for the small motor division. He was a 33rd degree Mason with 65 years of active service and a Shriner, where his favorite duty was ushering at the Ringling Brothers Children’s Circus. After retirement, he worked part time as a groundskeeper at a large apartment complex and he and Lucille traveled extensively, visiting gardens, estates and historic sites in the U.S. and Europe.
In 2003, at the age of 83, Ralph and Lucille moved into Vashon Community Care as some of the first residents of the new assisted living facility.
Ralph was an ingenious doer and maker, an avid gardener, made hooked rugs and was an accomplished needlepoint artist, as well as a woodworker and furniture maker. He was a selfless problem solver, and a good listener, who loved and cared about others and never forgot a name or a number. He was never vain or self centered, fearful, petty or faint-hearted. He was steady. He had true grit.
Ralph was preceded in death by his wife Lucille in 2003, and is survived by his son, Larry (Nancy) Eister, his three granddaughters; Leah (Wally) Eister-Hargrave, Justine Eister, Rowan Eister and two great grandchildren, Ruby Lucille and Wyatt Lee Eister-Hargrave.
An informal memorial is planned for November 1st, All Souls Day, at Vashon Community Care, 2-4 pm. Please make remembrances as donations to VCC.
Please visit our online guest book at www.islandfuneral.com
Paid Obituary.
