Ralph Warren Whitaker
April 23, 1924-Nov. 15, 2011
San Luis Obispo, California
Ralph Warren Whitaker, Jr. passed away Nov. 15, 2011, at his home in San Luis Obispo. He was 87. The cause was complications from dementia.
Born in Beverly Hills, Calif., in April of 1924, he was the second child of Margaret Alberta Hanna and Ralph Warren Whitaker Sr. Ralph had fond memories of growing up in San Diego, Merced, and Pasadena. He attended Eliot Jr. High in Pasadena with his cousin, Cornelia Longley (Hull), then Lake Forest Academy in Illinois, before entering the alma mater of his father, maternal aunt, and paternal uncle, Stanford University, in 1942.
Ralph answered the call to service and left Stanford to join the Navy. He earned the rank of Lieutenant JG and served aboard the USS McCaffrey 1945-6.
Returning to Stanford in 1947, Ralph met and became engaged to the woman who would change his life, fellow student and Palo Alto native, Meredith Duncan. They married in the Stanford Memorial Chapel July 3, 1948, and established their first home locally.
In June 1949, Meredith and Ralph graduated from Stanford. Ralph's degree in Civil Engineering took the couple to Sacramento were he worked for the State of California as a dam engineer on water projects. 1950 began with the birth of daughter Janice, the first of Ralph and Meredith's four children. Preferring the written word over blueprints, Ralph joined the staff of Western Construction Magazine in San Francisco, and the family returned to the peninsula in 1952.
Ralph combined his love of language with his engineering background and pursued a career in industrial writing and editorial work. He affiliated with some of the pioneering businesses in the area including recording revolutionary Ampex, Silicon Valley computer tape maker Memorex, and transistor innovator Shockley Semiconductor. He retired in 1990 from EPRI, the Electric Power Research Institute in Palo Alto.
His happiest years were spent in Palo Alto raising his children and as an active member of the Greenmeadow neighborhood association. For many years he edited the groups' newsletter, The Meadowlark, served on the board and as president of the association, acted as head timer for the neighborhood swim team, and was an organizer of the annual 4th of July celebration.
The Whitakers lived in Palo Alto for over 40 years, retiring first to San Diego, then San Luis Obispo in 2003 to be closer to their daughter Nancy and granddaughters, Lauren and Kelsey.
The maritime world and tall ships were a life-long passion of Ralph's. He was thrilled by opportunities to crew several sailing ships being moved from port to port on the West Coast. His docent activities on the Star of India, the world's oldest active sailing ship, moored at the San Diego Maritime Museum brought him great joy.
Throughout their lives together, Ralph and Meredith were committed to and active on issues of human rights, social justice, the environment, and peace. The Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship, Creative Initiative Foundation, Beyond War, and the Sierra Club were their partners in this work.
Ralph is survived by daughter Janice Mancuso, Portland, Ore.; sons David Whitaker, San Jose, and Alan Whitaker, Mountain View; and daughter Nancy Harper. Also son-in-law Dan Harper, granddaughters Lauren and Kelsey Harper of San Luis Obispo. And Alan's daughter, granddaughter Melinda Whitaker and great-grandson Tristan Ralston of Houston, TX and cousin, Mrs. Cornelia Hull of Seattle, WA.
He is preceded in death by his wife of 62 years, Meredith who passed away February 2011 and his elder sister Amy MacMullan of Reno, NV, July 2011.
A favorite quote of Ralph's:
"We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch - we are going back from whence we came."
John F. Kennedy
Tags: veteran
