David Ramsey

1928 - 2021

David Ramsey
March 14, 1928 - August 25, 2021
Written by his loving children:
Dad was born March 14, 1928 to Ruth and Oliver Ramsey at the Tanner Hospital in Santa Rosa. He attended Fremont Elementary School, Santa Rosa Jr. High School, and Santa Rosa High School. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in October 1946 and did his basic training in South Carolina before being deployed to Japan with the 24th Infantry Division. He was stationed in Kyusho, Southern Japan to guard Japanese POWs and to take work parties out to rebuild the communication infrastructure. He was honorably discharged in 1948. He then attended SRJC and transferred to SFSU to finish his education and received his teaching credential. He married Elia Wilson in 1951 and made their first home in Ross, CA. In 1953 David and Elia moved back to Santa Rosa where his first job was teaching at Vine Hill School. In 1955 David was hired by Bennett Valley School District where he was a teacher and principal for a number of years before becoming the Superintendent of the District. He was with Bennett Valley School District for 33 years, and retired in 1988. During the summer months he was a summer school teacher, a Gravenstein apple inspector, and also loaded boxcars with ice from the ice plant on N. Dutton Ave. He enjoyed traveling and visited Panama, England and Scotland. He enjoyed his time at the coast also. In retirement David worked at the Sonoma County Probation Camp where he taught life skills to the boys until his "second" retirement in 2016. Dad enjoyed going to local museums with his son Gerry and studying all of the exhibit's and making plans to visit more museums. David also enjoyed going to the Santa Rosa Rural Cemetery once a year to clean the family graves with Gerry and Geoff. There was nothing better than going to breakfast with his sons and his nephew Calvin Ares. We would spend that precious time talking about the family, the grandkids, the great grandkids and what everyone was doing, and enjoy going through old family photos.
David is preceded in death by his parents, his two sisters, Norma Voss and Wanda Britton, and his Son-in-Law Paul Kaldunski.
He is survived by his children Gerry (Shelley), Geoff (Sue), and Lisa Kaldunski. He is also survived by his grandchildren Amanda Malloy (Steve), Tiffany Young (Brian), Seamus Ramsey (Jodi), Caitlin Lozano (Sunti), and Erika Carstensen (Josh), and his great grandchildren Steven, Madeline, Carter, Hailey, Bella, Harper, and Payton. He leaves behind numerous nieces and nephews, his cousin Marion McMurtry, and his self appointed caregiver.