MSGT Donald Leo Ralph, USAF (RET), 96 of Manning, passed away on Thursday, July 5, 2018 at Palmetto Health Richland. He was born in Ohio Co., KY, a son of the late Kernie and Pauline Rhoads Ralph.
Mr. Ralph was part of our Country’s Great Generation having worked as a farmer in his youth and then decided to enlist in the US Army Air Corps, where he received the Purple Heart for his sacrifice serving during the attack on Pearl Harbor. He served his country proudly having retired from the US Air Force after 20 years of service.
After his military career, Mr. Ralph was involved in several sales jobs including one at the WYMB radio station in Clarendon County and Protho Chevrolet. He was also on the construction crew that built the Alumax aluminum plant in Goose Creek, where after completion he was hired on as an employee with the plant well into his late sixties. He went on to own and operate his own advertising business well into his eighties.
He was a Master Mason, a member of the Omar Shriners and volunteered with Meals on Wheels. Mr. Ralph was a Southern Baptist, having been a member of the Second Baptist Church in Manning.
He is preceded in death in addition to his parents by his loving wife, Mary Elizabeth Jackson Ralph; a son, Donald Paul Ralph; two brothers, James and Kenneth Ralph.
Surviving are his grandson, Edward Leo (Elizabeth) Ralph; daughter-in-law, Carolyn Luce-Ralph Fox; two great-grandchildren, Charles Edward Ralph and Eliza Danielle Young; a brother, Hugh (Phyllis) Ralph; four sisters, Linda Sue Brady, Wilma Smith, Polly Ann House and Margaret Lamb; and a number of nieces and nephews, and a truly wonderful neighbor, Barbara Hayes.
A memorial service will be held at 6:00 o’clock Wednesday evening, July 25 at Second Baptist Church, 323 Alfred Henry Drive, Manning, with Rev. Tom Vassar officiating. The family will receive friends following the services at the church.
In Lieu of Flowers, memorials may be made to the Wounded Warrior Project.
