Ralph Morgan

Ralph Woodrow Morgan passed away on Friday, Sept. 12, 2009, in Boise, after a battle with cancer.

The viewing will be held Tuesday Sept. 15, 2009, from 4-7 p.m. at Rost Funeral Home, McMurtrey Chapel. On Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2009, a viewing will be held at 10 a.m. until the 1 p.m. funeral service at the Rost Funeral Home, McMurtrey Chapel. A committal service with military honors by the American Legion Post #26, will follow at Mountain View Cemetery.

He was born Dec. 5, 1918, to Hazel and Main Morgan in Tyrone, Mo. His family moved to Idaho in 1928 where his father worked for Union Pacific Railroad. His parents, three brothers, three sisters, and Ralph, settled in Glenns Ferry.

After graduating from high school he followed in his fathers footsteps, going to work for Union Pacific Railroad.

On Jan. 28, 1944, he married the love of his life, Eula Ytuarte, shortly after he joined the Navy.

Ralph was assigned to the USS Louisville, a heavy cruiser. In January of 1945, the Louisville was hit by two Japanese suicide planes but remained on station providing heavy gunfire support for amphibious landings. Ralph and the USS Louisville fought from the Marshall Islands to the Okinawa campaign where they got hit by another Kamikaze on June 5.

Upon his return home after the war Ralph and Eula were blessed with two daughters, Carmen and Bonnie.

In 1951 Ralph went to work at the Mountain Home Air Force Base Fire Department. Two years later he transferred to the commissary where he became the commissary warehouse foreman for over 30 years.

Ralph loved the outdoors, fly fishing and riding horses.

He competed in rodeos and carried the flag in 1968 in the Snake River Stampede.

He also competed in horse shoe pitching tournaments throughout the state as well as enjoying the horse races, playing the lottery and scratch tickets, where he was exceptionally lucky.

Ralph is survived by his daughter Carmen and her husband William Fortner, and his son in-law Leon Howell all of Mountain Home, grandchildren Kevin (Kristi) McCall of Mountain Home, Kelli Berryman of Boise, Shane (Karla Duarte) McCall of El Dorado Hills, Calif., and Melinda (Steve) Keller of Pocatello, great-grandchildren Tyler, Morgan and Layne McCall of Mountain Home, Austin, Isabella and Ellianna Keller of Pocatello, his sister Viola Davy of Glenns Ferry, and brother Keith and Mary Morgan of Kathleen, Ga., and many nieces and nephews.

Ralph was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Eula Ytuarte Morgan, on June 29, 1989, and his daughter, Bonnie Morgan Howell, on Jan. 10, 2008. He was also preceded in death by his parents, sister Golda Rose of Glenns Ferry, brothers Glenn Morgan of Medford, Ore., Lloyd Morgan of Columbus, Ohio, and sister Barbara Freeman of Boise.

He was loved dearly and we will miss his laughter and the twinkle in his eyes.

Memorials are suggested to the American Cancer Society, 2676 South Vista, Boise, ID 83705.