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Ralph and Ella
July 2016 (the day of this interview)
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A few years ago, in July 2016, I was riding in the backseat of Ella and Ralph's sedan, on our way to the Payson Scottish Festival. Among the things we talked about on the way were church callings/responsibilities they've held. This is what they shared that day.
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When Ralph and Ella lived in Oklahoma [years?], Ella had the calling of Stake Primary President. She would travel throughout her stake - which was 165 miles long by 130 wide, covering parts Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Kansas. Ella recalls:
When they [the stake presidency] called me and we talked about the travel [required for the calling], I said, “I don’t mind the travel, as long as I don’t have to travel during a tornado watch!”
Ralph remembers that many times as he was heading out to work in the morning, she was also on her way to visit a ward or branch. He remembers that at the time there were about 6 wards in the stake and 3 or 4 branches. Sometimes it was 9 or 10 o’clock at night before Ella would return home. In the winter time, Ralph would take a day off and drive Ella and her counselors to their meetings. Ella chimed in: “It’s not like here [in Utah] where you’re just around the corner.” She served in this calling for a little over 1 year.
One of the most surprising and challenging callings Ralph had was when he was called to be bishop [KF: I think it was the Orchard 3rd Ward in North Salt Lake]. He was 43 years old. He served for 5 years and 1 month. (Not that he was counting!) After that service, he was on the High Council for their stake, then subsequently he was the High Priest Group Leader for their ward.
A particularly memorable experience in a calling was when they were living in Oklahoma, Ralph was at the stake center for a priesthood meeting (Ralph was executive secretary at the time), when a tornado hit, about 7 pm at night. Ralph was going throughout the building, opening windows in the foyer and classrooms so that as the tornado came through and the air pressure increased, the windows wouldn’t implode. The lights were out and there was no power, and they continued to hold the meeting with flashlights.
The stake president got up and said, “It’s been suggested that we cancel this meeting and let everyone go home. We feel impressed to continue to hold the meeting and all of our families will be fine.” So they held the meeting. They could hear the tornado roar - it sounded like a freight train!
The next day was Sunday, and Ralph was called by Oklahoma Public Service to fly a helicopter to survey the damage. He recalls:
I was up flying the helicopter [He gets a little choked up - “It grabs me even now when I think about it!”]. So I flew over this area, 600 homes in a tract just southwest of the stake center were all wiped out. Nobody was hurt. Nobody was killed. But their homes were damaged. I was flying over in the helicopter and I could see the path of how it hit the ground. It went back south of the stake center, then lifted up, went over the stake center, and hit a block north.
There was a little 7-Eleven store - they called them Get-and-Gos there, a convenience store - it was a block south of the stake center, wiped out. The convenience store was gone. The only thing that was left was a level piece of concrete. [Ella says, “You were protected.” And Ralph chuckles, as if that was a huge understatement. Indeed they were!]
What was interesting is that two brothers that I know of said, “The heck with this. We’ve got to go home and take care of our family.” So one guy jumped up and got in his car and headed home. He was one of the ones that lived some distance away. It started raining then - we got torrential rains there. He drove under an underpass and his car died [in the deep] water. So he sat in his car all night under the underpass. He didn’t make it home.
The other guy got home and loaded up his family and said, “Hey, let’s get out of here. The tornado is coming.” They loaded up their car with food, water, stuff like that. About 15, 20 minutes later, his wife said, “Well, where are we going?” He said, “I don’t know. We’ve just got to get out of this.” They also, their car stalled, and they slept in the car that night.
It taught a lesson to me at least, that when a leader of the stake says, “This is our inspiration, we’re going to hold the meeting. We can’t force anyone to stay.” Everyone who stayed at the meeting made it home and their family was safe.
The tornado hit about 4 miles from our place in Broken Arrow.
In the summer of 2016, Ralph and Ella were in their third year of teaching a teenage Sunday school class together in their ward in Centerville [name of ward?]. They loved those youth and loved being with them each week. I got to join them that Sunday, and I was impressed at how the youth loved to be there too - I think they felt of Ralph and Ella’s care and concern. They were quick to volunteer, they paid close attention, and readily participated in the discussions.
Looking back at their varied church service, what would Ralph and Ella do differently if they knew then what they know now? “Pray more!” Ralph chuckles. That's some sage advice!
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Source: From a conversation with Ralph and Ella on 9 July 2016.
