Ralph LaCroix lived a life full of love, faith, laughter, success, compassion, and most
important of all – family. He passed away peacefully on May 3, 2023 at the age of 96 in
his home in Pottsboro, Texas.
Ralph Howard LaCroix was born on February 5, 1927 in Chicago Heights, Illinois. He
was one of four children born to Edward and Myrtle (Larsen) LaCroix. At the age of
seventeen, and with parental consent, Ralph enlisted in the armed forces to fight for his
country in the Second World War. Ralph served in the Navy as a motor machinist in the
Pacific on the USS PC 1167. The maximum age on his ship was 26 and it was the
roughest ride in the Navy. PC 1167 performed air and sea rescues and engaged
combat. Ralph was honorably discharged in June of 1946. He promptly returned to Oak
Park, Illinois, and completed his senior year and graduated in January of 1947 from Oak
Park Township High School.
With an impossible eleven year wait to attend Northwestern, Ralph chose the University
of Illinois at Galesburg to pursue his higher education. Ralph was an athlete and
excelled in basketball and baseball. While in Galesburg, he played in a farm league for
the Chicago Cubs as a catcher. After one year at U of I, he and four of his buddies
spontaneously decided to drive to Colorado and enroll at the University of Denver.
Ralph majored in advertising, was a member of the Alpha Kappa Psi business fraternity
and graduated from the College of Business Administration in 1950.
It was September of 1949, on the UD campus during New Student Week that he met
Darlene Beister under a tree in the quadrangle. Darlene recalls that the AK Psi’s were
no schoolboys; they were ex-GIs. Darlene and Ralph ran in the same circle and saw
each other every day. Ralph lived downtown and Darlene lived in North Denver. For
their first official date, Ralph took the bus to meet Darlene and they went to Elitch
Gardens for live music (big band, of course) and dancing. Ralph ordered a beer and
offered Darlene the same. Darlene did not drink at the time, and declined a coke and a
lemonade, to which Ralph responded, “How about a punch in the nose?” Unbeknownst
to Ralph, this is exactly what Darlene’s father use to say to her as a young girl, and she
decided he was worth a closer look. Ralph knew Darlene’s route to English class and
would wait in the alley by Mapelli’s Meat Market and fall flat on his face, daily, as she
walked by. Their courtship, like their marriage, was filled with laughter.
Upon graduation in 1950 and the Korean War looming, Ralph was a “1A” for the draft
and had difficulty finding work as businesses assumed he would be called to war. He
settled for immediate work on a cement crew in Denver before making the move back to
Chicago for more promising prospects. In Chicago, he worked for General Motors
Acceptance Corporation as an overdue bill collector on the Southside of Chicago. All
the while, he and Darlene maintained a long-distance relationship through mail
correspondence and occasional phone calls. To this day, the letters are with the family.
They decided over the phone to get married, and he mailed an engagement ring and
note to Darlene’s best friend JoAnn Finch to deliver to Darlene, in person. They chose
September 1, 1951 to wed at Holy Family Catholic Church and Ralph made it from
Chicago to Denver with three days to spare to marry the love of his life.
After their honeymoon in Estes Park, the couple lived in Chicago near Ralph’s parents
in a tiny basement apartment. Ralph continued his job at GMAC, but soon borrowed
$225 from his father to buy their first car and they moved back to Denver. In the Spring
of 1952, he began his 21-year career with the US Rubber Company (now Uniroyal) in
sales. In August of 1952 they welcomed their first son, Mark. Ralph was mostly on the
road covering half of Colorado, all of Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota,
and Nebraska. Shortly after, their first daughter, Barbara was born in 1953. In true
Catholic form, James Scott was born in Loveland, Colorado in 1955. When Ralph
received his first promotion, they bought their first home in Boulder, Colorado and
Jeffrey was born in 1957. In 1959, Ralph was promoted to Assistant Sales Manager of
the Texas Division and the family moved to Dallas in June of 1964. In 1965, he was
promoted to Manager of the Texas Division and a move to Houston also welcomed his
girls, Kristen, and Janina in 1965 and 1967, respectively.
In 1968, the new position of Head of Telephone Sales was created at Uniroyal and
Ralph was promoted to lead this division and the family moved to Salisbury,
Connecticut. With the onset of a new Uniroyal golf ball division, the family moved to
Cumberland, Rhode Island in1970. In 1975, Uniroyal had made the executive decision
to relocate their home office to Virginia. Ralph was faced with the decision to make an
unfavorable move, or, at the advice of fellow salesmen, interview for a promising
position with a “little known golf company”. Ralph was hired on the spot by the “#1 Ball
in Golf”, Titleist in 1975 and was named the South-Central Region Sales Manager and
the family moved back to Texas. He was one of only four Regional Sales Managers in
the country through 1990. He won the “hat trick” – achieving top salesman three years
in a row. The first and second year Titleist awarded Ralph and Darlene a celebratory
trip to Hawaii. For the third year, Ralph requested a trip to Scotland – “The Home of
Golf”, kicking off many years of traveling to play the greatest golf courses in the world.
When the PGA established a separate tournament opportunity for seniors, Titleist
placed Ralph as lead for the company. Ralph traveled to every senior tournament,
distributed Titleist equipment and managed accounts while visiting the best courses in
the country and drinking scotch in the club house with the some of the best players in
golf. In 1994, Ralph officially retired – much to the amusement of all his friends who
would say, “Retire from what? You have the best job on the planet.”
Throughout his career, Ralph effortlessly found the balance between being a genuinely
great man and a great leader of men. He was a born leader, both professionally and
personally. Ralph was caring and generous but also tough as nails. In his personal
definition of moral character, integrity and respect ranked high. As a father and a
mentor to his children’s friends and teammates, he was a great coach. Ralph taught
many children beyond his own how to play basketball, baseball, football, and golf. He
taught his children how to camp, fish, hunt, and how to ride a horse. If he could do it, he
taught his children how to do it and lead by example.
Ralph traveled for business his entire career and would have never imagined that
traveling would prove to be one of the greatest joys of his life. Ralph loved to travel with
his wife Darlene, family, and dear friends. Their adventures included all the lower 48
except Maine and West Virginia, Alaska, Australia (4 times), Austria, Bermuda (4 times),
Canada, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand,
Puerto Rico, Scotland (7 times), St. John, St. Thomas, Switzerland, and The
Netherlands. He loved to golf, fish, and bird hunt. He was a woodworker, a handyman,
barbeque master, and loved to maintain a beautiful yard. He loved the Dallas Cowboys,
The New York Yankees, The Boston Celtics, a great meal, cold beer from a frosted
glass, and a scotch and water with little ice . . . and little water. He thoroughly enjoyed
country music and the big band era, and frequent replays of “Blazing Saddles” and
“Monty Python and the Holy Grail” for a great belly laugh.
Ralph is survived by his wife of 72 years, Darlene; his sister, Jackie Johnstone; his son,
Mark and his children Brian (Melanie), Lauren (Daniel) Sommer, Daniel (Brittnie), and
Jacque (Peter) Hince; his daughter Barb (Gene); his son Scott (Deb) and his children
Corby (Cari), Weston (Jessica), Michael (Britt), and Ryan; his son Jeff (Rita) and his
children Audra, and Mary (Davis) Coghlan; his son-in-law Mike Kistner; his daughter
Janie (Rick) Wilcox and her children Hank and Kelly; and 20 great grandchildren. He is
preceded in death by his parents (Edward and Myrtle), his siblings (Jean and Edward),
and his daughter Kris.
Special thanks to Dr. Winston Marshall of BSW for his authentic and compassionate
care over the span of 20 years and to Alexis, Megan, and Jennifer with Birdie Palliative
Care for their care and support of Ralph and his wife Darlene over these past six
months.
A Celebration of Life will be held, Wednesday, May 17th at 11:00am at St. John the
Apostle Episcopal Church, 760 FM120, Pottsboro, Texas 75076 with a lunch reception
to follow. The service can also be livestreamed by visiting: https://stjohnstexoma.org/youtube-live-streams/
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to St. John the Apostle Episcopal Church or
The Friends of the Pottsboro Public Library.
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
2 Timothy 4:7
