Ralph Augustus Belknap Jr's Obituary
Ralph Augustus Belknap Jr., 98 years old, of Dallas, Texas died on August 8, 2022 after a brief illness. Born in Dallas, Texas on May 23, 1924 to Virginia Barker and Ralph Augustus Belknap, Ralph attended Highland Park High School and Texas A&M University as a member of Corps of Cadets. After two years at A&M, Ralph attended Officer Training School/(United States Naval Reserve Midshipmen's School) at Notre Dame University where he became a “90 Day Wonder,” earning the rank of Ensign. Ralph was stationed at the Naval Base San Diego during WWII where he coordinated ship repair projects including taking submarines out for their final checkout dives from Mare Island Naval Shipyard (MINSY) to ensure repairs had been successfully completed. After the war was over, Ralph returned to Texas and finished his mechanical engineering degree at the University of Texas where he was a member of Tau Beta Pi, and engineering honor society. While he seemed to follow UT football more closely, we never could get him to take a side when UT and A&M played in the Lonestar Showdown games.
After a brief stint of working for General Electric in Schenectady, NY (he felt it too cold there), Ralph returned to Dallas where he took on a role at Plastics Manufacturing Company as a production engineer, where he worked for over 20 years.
Ralph met Lucy Kate Field in 1950, quickly fell in love and married on November 20, 1952. They spent 48 wonderful years together until Lucy's death in 2000. They had two children, Kate Belknap Bruchak of Mesa, Colorado and Laura Belknap Calley of Frisco, Texas.
In 1972, Ralph made a career change and began work as a commercial real estate broker for the Hayden and Smith Company. He brokered many interesting and complex deals, remaining true to his engineer’s mind and shared that he enjoyed the challenge of salvaging deals that would have otherwise fallen through.
Ralph loved hunting and fishing, a good game of tennis, his buddies at the DCC Round Table and Brook Hollow, the Lunch Bunch, and his family, though not necessarily in that order.
Ralph was a lifelong hunter and fisherman, and enjoyed cold coffee in the duck blind, casting for the big bass he stocked in the tanks at the family farm in Frisco and hosting a large dove season opening day party every year.
Ralph was a dedicated volunteer with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America youth mentoring program as well as with the Maureen Connolly Brinker Foundation, an organization for which he raised countless dollars in support of women’s tennis. Ralph also enjoyed memberships in the Idlewild and Terpsichorean Clubs, the Dallas Country Club, and Brook Hollow Golf Club.
Ralph was preceded in death by his parents Virginia and Ralph Belknap Sr., his wife, Lucy Kate Belknap and his sister, Barbara Belknap Owen. He is survived by his two daughters Kate Belknap Bruchak (Bill) and Laura Belknap Calley (Brad) as well as his grandsons Ralph Belknap Calley, Cliff Calley, Clint Calley and granddaughter Evelyn Calley Jones.
The service will be held graveside on August 8, 2022, at 9:30am at Restland Memorial Park, 13005 Greenville Avenue, Dallas, Texas 75243. There will be a reception for friends and family at the family home following at 11:00am. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Lovers Lane UMC Foundation, which His sister and brother-in-law Babs and Arch Owen helped to establish in 1985.
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