Obituary of Ralph GOODCHILD

GOODCHILD, Ralph Hibbard October 19, 1920 – Calgary, AB June 28, 2014 – Calgary, AB Ralph Goodchild died on June 28, 2014 with his three children at his side. He was born and lived most of his 93 years in Calgary. Ralph was predeceased by his wife of 53 years, Evelyn,in 1998, and grandson Andrew Goodchild, in 1997. He is survived by his sister Mary Beaton, daughters, Ruth Goodchild and Cathy (Bill) Wilcox, son Jim (Cyndi) Thompson Goodchild, and grandchildren Symon and Shannon Wilcox and Miriam and Sarah Goodchild. A Memorial for Ralph will be held at Parkdale United Church, 2919 8th Ave. NW, Calgary, on Saturday, July 5, 2014 at 2:30 p.m., with Rev. Grant Dawson officiating. The family extends thanks to the staff of Unit 57 at Rockyview General Hospital for their compassionate care, and to the staff of Phil’s Restaurants for providing hospitality and friendship to Ralph over the years. Memorial donations can be made to Parkdale United Church, War Amps Canada, www.waramps.ca/donation.html or to a charity of your choice. Forward condolences through www.hffs.com. HERITAGE FUNERAL SERVICES “Heritage Funeral Home” Telephone: 299-0100 ________________________________________________________________________________ LIFE LEGACY Ralph Goodchild was born on October 19, 1920 in Calgary, where he resided for most of his life. In his boy, Ralph was a member of Cubs and Scouts. He enjoyed numerous Scout camps in the foothills west of Calgary and even a pack horse trip through the Elbow Pass to Kananaskis. In 1941 he volunteered for service in the RCAF and was posted to Toronto, Montreal and Chatham, New Brunswick before being sent to serve a year with the RAF as a meteorological observer in Bermuda. Both these connections resulted in many enduring friendships. In the midst of the Great Depression, Ralph met the love of his life, Evelyn Cartwright. In the summer of 1936 her family had travelled west from Boston to visit family in Calgary, who happened to be neighbours of the Goodchild family. Ralph and Evelyn exchanged letters for years before they were finally reunited when Ralph was stationed in eastern Canada during the war. In 1944 they were married in Medford, Massachusetts and then made the trek to Calgary to set up their home. Ralph took advantage of post-war training to study architectural draughting at SAIT. He never completed the second year of the course, however, because architect John Stevenson offered him a job. The job turned out to be a great choice because Ralph stayed with the company for 39 years until his retirement in 1985, working first as an architectural draughtsman and later as a specification writer. Ralph had the pleasure of working on some notable structures, such as the Calgary General Hospital and the Calgary Airport, but probably his favourite project was working with Evelyn to design their own home. Ralph had an abiding love of architecture and design. Ralph had a talent for art and calligraphy that one can see in the art deco designs he produced for the covers of his high school yearbooks. Obviously this talent helped him succeed in his draughting career as well, and also with his home movie-making hobby. Ralph was not content to simply film the events of our lives: he worked tirelessly to edit out all the bad film and create titles in various styles. The end product was great fun to watch, and remains a legacy for his children. Travel was a favourite pastime for Ralph, and he has instilled that same love in all three of his children by taking them on road and rail trips across various parts of Canada and the United States. A couple of particularly notable trips were the cross-country family odyssey to Boston and the Maritimes in 1967 and a cruise to Alaska in 1980. Ralph loved train travel and wove train excursions, or train-watching, into his summer vacations whenever possible. It was all the better if a historic steam train was involved. Music was a big interest for Ralph throughout his life. As a teenager he rigged up a crystal radio that he had built himself with an antenna wire that wrapped around his tiny bedroom so that he could listen to music broadcast from distant cities. Like many of his generation he loved the big band sound and jazz music, and he enjoyed singing in the Knox United Church choir for many years. In the 1960’s, when Ralph’s hearing failed, music was one of the things he missed the most. In later years, when travel had become difficult, Ralph took to travelling in the virtual world. Late in his 70’s he mastered the use of a computer, which provided him with new opportunities to connect with family and friends around the world. To the very end of his life he enjoyed chatting on Skype about whatever was the topic of the day, including our ever-changing weather, the politics of the day, the “silly little Stamps”, his latest outing for pancakes at Phil’s Restaurant or one of the many stories from his memories. Ralph’s biggest interest, however, was always his family. He loved to spend time playing cards, talking about politics, telling stories, and just watching his children and grandchildren grow up. Over the years nothing made him happier than arranging a gathering of his entire clan, and while he hated having his own photo taken, the chance to be photographed with one of his grandchildren would put a big smile on his face. Ralph passed away on Saturday, June 28, 2014 at the age of 93. As luck would have it, he hung onto life just long enough for almost the whole family to arrive for one final visit. He died in the company of his three children, who will always remain deeply grateful for his life.