Guestbook
Do you have a special story or memory about Ralph? Or perhaps you have some thoughts about him that you’d like to share. If so, please share them here.
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In 1969 I was discharged from the US Navy/Marine Corps. I was a Hospital Corpsman at a MUST hospital, with the 1st Marine Division, in Da Nang, Viet-Nam during the TET offensive of 1968. I can home to NYC a very, very angry, bitter, cynical man. By very good fortune, I wandered into the War Resistors League office on Layayette St. Ralph took one look at me and took me under his wing. We fixed the boiler, we ate dinner, I marveled and learned from the wonderful man. He helped me take my burning rage and direct it into peaceful, anti war and human rights activities. I’ve been following Ralphs example and teachings ever since. You see, Ralph quite literally saved my life.
PS - I am so pleased that the stained glass hanging that I made for Ralph and which he hung in the window over his desk is displayed here.
Comment by Peter A. Poccia — May 6, 2008 @ 12:17 am
I hadn’t seen Ralph is a good number of years, but I clearly recall his gentle good humor marked by his wry smile.
My favorite memory of him comes from a WRL National Conference. I don’t remember just what year, but it was in the ’70s. My then-wife Linda and I attended and were hanging out with some other folks one evening, listening to ’60s rock and roll and dancing, when for some reason the subject of high school came up in the conversation. We discovered that several of us had graduated the same year, 1966 - and much to our laughing surprise, the number who did so grew from six to eight to ten or maybe a couple more. It was, we decided, a good year for nonviolent activists.
And there was Ralph, right there with us, bopping to the ’60s rock. So we made him an honorary member of the Class of ‘66 and laughed and danced the evening away.
Comment by Larry Erickson — May 8, 2008 @ 4:04 pm
Dear Karen,
I am so very sorry, and there is so little I can say.
You know he was a much loved, admired and appreciated man. That must give you strength and support.
He was very funny as well.He made me promise him, that I would never cook him pasta, knowing how we Dutch maltreat our pasta’s. I still quote him on that, and especially Italian friends will nod in agreement.
Take very good care, dear Karen, and I will get in touch soon, to let you know my news.
Love,
Margriet
Comment by Margriet Prins — May 11, 2008 @ 4:43 pm
Dear Karen:
I always saw Ralph as a rock of peace, unmoved by the swirling torrents of violence around him. When I think of him, I see him smiling, with a quiet confidence that one day peace will come to the world,. . He was a person of prodigious energy and unswerving courage, and yet modest, an example for us all.
Howard Zinn
Comment by Howard Zinn — May 11, 2008 @ 4:53 pm