Ralph Lewis Pinkham

VERNAL, Utah -- Ralph Lewis Pinkham, father, brother, grandfather, great-grandfather, great-great-grandfather and friend, slipped from this life into the waiting arms of his loved ones gone before on Feb. 6, 2009, at the age of 84 years.

The fourth of 10 children of Charles W. Pinkham and Helen M. (Dumphy) Pinkham, he was born Dec. 4, 1924, in Lexington, Maine. He married Esther E. Churchill Pease on Dec. 6, 1947, in Waterville, Maine. She preceded him in death in 2004 after 56 years of marriage.

His family owned a lumber mill and farm in the west-central part of Maine where he worked as a lumberjack and on the farm until he enlisted in the Army on May 17, 1944. He served his country as part of the 42nd Infantry Division (Rainbows) during World War II, part of the force that invaded southern France in Operation Dragoon on Aug. 15, 1944, and was one of the liberators of the Dachau concentration camp near Munich, Germany.

He was a recipient of the Bronze Star and Purple Heart awards, and was discharged honorably on April 20, 1946.

After the war, he worked as a lumberjack clearing trees for pipeline rights-of-way. He left Maine in 1952, working on pipelines across the United States, eventually coming to Vernal in 1956 where he bought the house that was his home base for the rest of his life.

He worked during the 1950s and '60s for various companies doing pipeline construction in Europe and the United States. In 1967 he traveled to Alaska and was the superintendent on a pipeline from Whitter to Anchorage. After 1975 he worked on pipelines for several popular ski resorts for snow-making machines and retired to home in about 1987 where he worked with his backhoe around the valley until other responsibilities and age caught up to him. He was the caregiver for his wife for 13 years as she battled Alzheimer's disease.

An avid hunter and fisherman, he liked to snowmobile in the mountains around Vernal. He is survived by brothers Curtis, Norris (Barbara), Bryce (Edna) and Wright (Connie); a sister, June (LeRoy) Overstreet; three children, Barbara (Eugene) Grove of Whitefish, Mont., Norman (Pam) Pease of Vernal and Robert (Becky) Pinkham of Vernal; 11 grandchildren; 21 great-grandchildren; and one great-great-grandchild.

He was predeceased by his father and mother and four brothers, Everett, Forest, Ernest and Robert.

Graveside services were conducted by the American Legion Posts 124 and 11 with full military honors on Feb. 13. Family prayer was given by son, Norman Pease; dedication of the grave was given by Robert Pinkham.

Interment will take place at the Maeser-Fairview Cemetery in Vernal under the direction of the Blackburn Vernal Mortuary.