Ralph Edgar Bolles

Ralph Edgar Bolles, our beloved husband, father, and grandfather, died peacefully at home of natural causes on December 11, 2011. Ralph was born in Rocky Ford, Colorado on June 25, 1922. When he was a small child, his parents Peggy and Fred moved him and his older brothers Arthur and Frederick to Whittier, California, where Ralph attended East Whittier School and Whittier High School. During the Depression, the family endured long stretches of time when their father traveled the country to keep their household afloat, and together they survived the tragic death of ten-year-old Fred. Ralph and Art grew close after losing their big brother-Ralph considered Art his best friend.He graduated from Stanford University in 1949 with Bachelors and Masters degrees in Civil Engineering. During his three years of service with the Army Corps of Engineers in Okinawa and Tokyo, he met his beloved wife Miyoko Hosono when she worked as a secretary at the Army Corps office. Ralph had converted to the Roman Catholic faith through his friendship with chaplains in the Army Corps and he and his bride were married at St. Ignatius church in Tokyo on October 9, 1955. They bought a home in a new subdivision of La Habra on Gordon Avenue. Ralph's parents lived just a few miles away, sharing in grief over the death in infancy of their first child Frederick, and delight in their six daughters, Margaret, Mary, Martha, Marjorie, Monica, and Marilyn, and son, Greg. Though Ralph had a distinguished career as a civil engineer for many decades, his strongest devotion was to his relationship with Jesus Christ and His church, Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Habra. Ralph loved singing in the choir, serving as a lector, cantor, a member of the Holy Name Society, principal and teacher in Catholic Christian Doctrine, and blood drive organizer. In his community, he served on La Habra Heights County Water District board from 1987 to 2007, thirteen of those years as its president.He believed in adventure too, and loved to take his family on memorable trips to Utah and Mammoth Mountain for skiing in the winter, and to Lake Shasta for house-boating in the summer. Once his children grew up and could afford their own family vacations, he and Miyoko enjoyed road trips and foreign travel to Japan, Spain, Turkey, Panama, and Canada with their friends.Ralph's family owes a debt of gratitude to the St. Joseph Health Systems hospice team, Eucharistic minister Brendan Turney, Father Justin McCarthy, and all of Ralph and Miyoko's friends for their love and support throughout their lives.Ralph was preceded in death by his parents; his brothers Fred Junior and Arthur; his son Fred, his nephew Roy, and his infant granddaughter Elise. He is survived by his wife of 56 years, Miyoko, his seven children, and their spouses. He is also survived by his seventeen grandchildren Felix, Leo, John, Allison, Matthew, Andrew, Claire, Kyle, Eli, Ariel, Lakota, Forest, Luke, Riley, Bruce, Risa, and Nina; and his niece Betsy.Funeral Mass will be held on Friday, December 16, 11am at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, 900 W. La Habra Blvd., La Habra, CA. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the American Cancer Society in his memory.