George Howard Ramharter

George Howard Ramharter died peacefully on July 5, 2017.

Originally from Wisconson, George and his wife, Lois, relocated from Mequon, Wisconsin to Orlando in 2002 to be closer to his daughter, Joanne Ramharter, and her husband, Don Walsh. George initially lived in Vizcaya in the first high rise condo building built overlooking Big Sand Lake. He loved the views and the water. In 2004, they moved to the 55+ retirement community of Solivita where once again he had a view of water and loved living amidst an incredible variety of wildlife.

George was born in 1926 in the town of Arthur in Wisconsin. He was the second child of five children born to Clara Gane and Felix Ramharter. He graduated from Cadott High School in 1944 and served in the United States Army, receiving his discharge in 1946. He then returned home, swept his high school girlfriend, Lois Svoma, off her feet and married her while he attended the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire, where he earned a degree in teaching. George loved learning and spent his entire working life in the field of education. His first teaching position as a science teacher took the now family of four – George, Lois, Brentt and Catherine – to Mellon, Wisconsin for two years. It was here they had their third and final child, Joanne. It was also here he lived his dream of hunting and fishing on a world class level due to the abundant wildlife that inhabited their area. They felt these were the happiest days of their lives.

After teaching in Mellon, he taught in the Chetek School System; and, then pursued additional education. Following his early years in teaching, he received Master's Degrees in Biology and subsequently, Guidance and Counseling, with both degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison; and, eventually ended up spending the majority of his career in the Madison Public Schools in Madison, Wisconsin. He thoroughly enjoyed discussing ideas at the family dinner table with the goal of helping his children understand how to analyze thoughts and ideas for use in their own lives. He was a family man through and through, planning yearly family outdoor vacations camping, fishing, and traveling in Wisconsin and Canada, and teaching them to appreciate nature in all its beauty.

George was predeceased by three of his four siblings: Elaine Rafferty (Bill); Beverly Ramharter (Bill); and William Ramharter (Leona).

He is survived by his wife, Lois, and all three of his children: Brentt Ramharter (Linda) in Idaho, Catherine Kafer (Joseph) in WI and Joanne Ramharter (Donald Walsh). He has three grandchildren: Sean Kafer, Brentt John Ramharter (Rebecca); and Rachel Talady (Lucas). He also has four great-grandchildren: Cheyenne, River and Rain Talady; and, Easton Ramharter. His brother, James Ramharter (Shirley), lives in Chippewa Falls, WI.

Please join us to Celebrate George's Life from 12-3pm on Thursday, August 24, 2017 at the Bella Via Ristoranté at Solivita Marketplace, Kissimmee, FL 34758

In lieu of flowers, the family invites you to bring a donation in George's name addressed to St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church, Poinciana.

Condolences may be offered to www.grissomfh.com

Arrangements under the direction of Grissom Funeral Home and Crematory, Kissimmee, FL.

EULOGY:

This is difficult to deliver, but I feel compelled to speak about my father to show a side of him that not everyone saw.
Much of Dad's youth influenced his adult life. Born in 1926, Dad and Mom grew up in the depression in rural Wisconsin. Dad's father Felix's heritage was Austrian and his beautiful mother Clara was a combination of French, Austrian, and American Indian from the Chippewa tribe.
George's generosity and willingness to give to Catholic Charities and causes came from his early childhood. When he was quite young his family lived on a farm they referred to as the Gane farm – as it was owned by his mother's French Indian relatives. The family was to take care of his great Aunt and her husband Nells in return for the farm.
The depression was hard on everyone in America, but exceptionally hard on families living in cities without money to buy food. On Sunday people would regularly walk from the City of Eau Claire miles into the countryside seeking food from the local farmers. And, their family always delivered as they had food.
His Mom would have young George butcher chickens that she prepared along with other food to hand out to the "city folk" who made it to their farm. To this very day he has a great distaste for chicken having had to clean and eat so many of them in his childhood.
Dad's family also went to a Catholic Church. He used to repeat a story about one Christmas when after attending Christmas Day Mass they returned home and his Mother gathered up the nuts and fruit the children had received and took young George with her to give to a family with 10 children. George's Father was furious – but his Mother was determined and George saw she had taken to heart the Priest's sermon. George knew the family but always remembered those kids eating his Christmas Day food.
But George's Father was also generous. The Gane farm had 7 tracts of land, each tract containing 40 acres, with not all parcels adjacent to each other. On the tract the most far away from their home were fruit and nut trees. His father allowed five Indian families to continue to live there as the tract was not suitable for grazing animals.
One day the community's local authority came to his Father and told him there were two Indian boys starving on this tract of land and could he help them. His Dad and another local farmer went out to the property and located the boys. He took one home with him while the other man took the other boy.
To clean him up they sent him to a deep water fishing hole, gave him some soap and told him to scrub up before they could clothe him. He then was given George's Father's clothes and a room to sleep in. His name was Ernie and he lived there and worked on the farm until the Civilian Conservation Corps was formed.
These childhood memories formed my Dad. He never saw a charitable request that he could resist. The pictures of the poor, the uneducated - the lost souls of humanity tugged at his heart strings. Whether it was $5.00 or $25.00 or $2.00 he could not resist. And whatever $ amount they requested he always increased it by a few $'s just because he thought he should give more.
The mail arriving at their residence is overwhelming. Every charity he gave to has sold and resold their charitable lists thereby causing Dad to receive new organizations charitable requests at an unbelievable rate. It is absolutely mindboggling.
No matter how we tried to explain that charitable organizations are big business today and that a predominant amount is used for professional fundraising expenses – and checking it on the internet to show him the percentages - he stayed true to his core that every little bit helps. He believed in the essential truth that you must try to help people that cannot help themselves.
The lighter side of this is the exasperation experienced by the poor mailperson who regularly had to come to the door to provide the mail because it wouldn't fit into the mail box! And poor us – Don and I trying to stem the flow and Mom trying to clean up his desktop every few weeks as he refused to throw the requests away.
I can see all of us trying to get his name off the lists and every few years we will receive a request addressed to him at our address. Proof in point – Don still receives insurance requests for his deceased Mother Margaret.
So I leave you with something I learned from my Father – being charitable is an important part of a person. And building on that thought, Don and I always say "being charitable is an important part of a person, but charity begins at home."


A Letter from Don on June 23, 2001

Dear George and Lois,

I thought about not writing this letter, but decided to stick my 2 cent in on your decision to stay in WI. There is no doubt that was an easy decision to make. I remember my mother deciding to stay in her home in Antioch after my Dad died. It was also an easy decision for her to make.

The challenge for Mom was to be comfortable with her new life. I will never forget the many times it took 3 hours to drive back and forth to Antioch only to have to do some little task she could not accomplish which took a total of 5 minutes. It became apparent to me that this was not the answer for me to travel back and forth to Antioch to take care of the things she could not. Mom understood it too, but resisted the move no matter how much she knew it was necessary.

Well, you know the rest of the story. Mom reluctantly made the move, making me the villain for forcing her to do what she knew she needed to do, but was unwilling to do on her own. I understand it is difficult to give up what is familiar to us at a point in time in our life when we are looking for stability. As you recall Mom was still mobile and in control when she made the move. It was hard for her, but I can't tell you how many times after the fact she said it was the right thing to do and she thanked us for forcing the issue. That was a real admission for her.

I think about life with you here in Florida with us. I can't tell you how much it would mean to Joanne and I to have you nearby. Celebration is a beautiful city filled with the amenities you need in your life as you close the final chapter. We would be able to see you on a regular basis and we would be close when you need us.

It might be easy now to dismiss our own immortality, but the truth is we have no real option. I think of how different life would have been if Mom had stayed in Antioch. Yes, we would have seen here once in a while, but we would never have had the chance to give each other the strength or comfort to pass on to the next world. I often now worry about Joanne, as we have no children. I wonder who is going to be there for her, when I am gone. I have tried to provide all the tools for her to sustain her life after I am gone, but I will never be able to fill the loneliness she may have to endure. But, that is what life is all about, making choices and then having to live with the consequences. I guess I just felt I had a responsibility to tell you how I see things and encourage you to take advantage of the choices you have ahead of you.

The end results will be the same for all of us as our time here is not in our control. However, we do have the choice to determine what quality of life and what relationships are important for us as we prepare to leave this world. How close we choose to be is really a decision only we can make. I know from seeing Mom over the last five years of her life it gave us the ability to love, enjoy, cry and even disagree together. I am appreciative of the chance she gave me the opportunity to be a big part of the final chapter of her life. She went to WI because we were there and she trusted I would be there for her. She would have been quite lonely if she had not been able to make the leap of faith to believe we had her best interests in our heart.

In the past, I have not had much reason to write to you except to say thank you for one of your generous gifts. So this letter may really become a collector's item? I tried to show you how much I appreciate being included in your family. For me you are the only immediate family I have left. Selfishly, I think you should make the decision to move here. I would enjoy it and appreciate it.

Regrettably, my selfishness is not the reason for you to make the decision. You need to consider the factors and make the decision for Joanne and for yourselves. This will be the very last opportunity you will have to grow closer to each other. There is no second chance.

Whatever decision you make I will respect, but I will be disappointed if you don't come. I look forward to a Sunday get together just like we used to have up North. I look forward to the chance as a family to celebrate the Holiday's. More importantly, though, it is a chance to be together for life's final curtain call.

So I have said about all I can say except we both love you and would like to be near you. The choice is yours. You must trust in us that we have your best interests in our heart. Only you can make that decision. I can only tell you from experience, I am grateful my Mom gave us the chance to be a big part of the final chapter of her life. I hope you will do the same. I hope we have demonstrated not through words, but through actions why you can trust in us.
With love and respect, your son-in-law. Don