Ralph Robert Johnson (2010)

JOHNSON, HOYLE, CHAMBERLIN, JETT, PRESCOTT

Posted By: Mary Welty Hart (email)
Date: 9/2/2010 at 19:28:02

Winterset Madisonian, Winterset, Iowa
September 1, 2010

RALPH JOHNSON, Oregon

Ralph Robert Johnson, 85, of Grants Pass, Ore., died Aug 3, 2010, at his home.

A Funeral Mass was celebrated Wednesday, Aug. 11, at St. Anne Catholic Church in Grants Pass with Father Mike Walker officiating. Burial was at Eagle Point National Cemetery in Eagle Point, Ore., with military rites performed by the Oregon Army National Guard Honors Team. Arrangements were handled by Chapel of the Valley–L.B. Hall Funeral Home in Grants Pass. Condolences may be made to the family at www.chapel-valley.com.

Ralph Johnson was born July 13, 1925, in Winterset to John and Loretta Johnson. He graduated from Winterset High School in 1943 and soon after entered the United States Navy. Ralph was a radioman aboard the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid during World War II. After the war, he worked as an aerospace engineer for the Rocketdyne Division of Rockwell International in Southern California. During his career, Ralph helped build the engines for the space shuttle. On July 31, 1971, he married Rita Marian Barry Hoyle in Turlock, Calif. They moved to Grants Pass in 1981 from Southern California. While living in Grants Pass, Ralph worked as a part-time assistant at Slawson’s Chapel of the Valley Funeral Home. He was a member of St. Anne Catholic Church and was active in the choir, religious education, hospital visitation, Prayer and Praise Group, and as a Eucharistic minister.

He was preceded in death by one son, Tom Johnson; one daughter, Carolyn Chamberlin; and a grandson, Joseph Jett.

He is survived by his wife, Rita, of Grants Pass, Ore.; one son, Bob Johnson of Redding, Calif.; one daughter, Joanne Jett of Grants Pass, Ore.; a sister, Ruth Prescott of Wisconsin; and six grandchildren and several great-grandchildren.