Ralph Raymond Glines

Ralph Raymond Glines was born April 11, 1931 in Battle Creek, Michigan to Ralph and Merna Glines. Ralph was the oldest of three brothers. Richard was born in 1933 and Charles was born in 1941. Ralph grew up loving sports of which his favorite was swimming. Ralph swam competitively in high school breaking several swimming records. At the age of 17 Ralph enlisted in the Navy and served aboard a battlecruiser traveling much of the world. In Boston while on leave he met Freda Alexdakis and began a courtship. In 1951 Ralph and Freda married in Virginia Beach. Ralph was planning to be discharged from the Navy but the Korean conflict had started and Ralph served an additional year. Ralph and Freda then moved to New York where they lived for five years and were blessed with their first daughter Marie in 1956. A year later, Ralph and Freda moved to sunny California. Since Ralph was an air-conditioning and refrigeration engineer, the sunny California climate was good for business. Ralph and Freda’s second daughter, Cheryl, was born in California in 1959. In 1960 Ralph and Freda bought a house in Norwalk where they lived for thirty years and raised their two daughters. Ralph continued to work as an air-conditioning engineer and, along with his family, continued to enjoy water sports. The family spent many happy weekends on the Colorado River in a ski boat, waterskiing and swimming . Ralph’s oldest daughter Marie married Mathew Green in 1977 and Ralph’s youngest daughter Cheryl married Cipriano Armijo in 1981. Ralph and Freda’s greatest delight was their first grandchild Cassandra who was born to Cheryl and Cipriano in 1984. Ralph and Freda continued to be blessed with additional grandchildren as Christen was born in 1988 and Travis in 1991 to Marie and Matt. Cheryl and Cipriano were blessed again with Cipriano Daniel born in 1988 and Catherine born in 1990. Once their nest was empty, Ralph and Freda began to travel which was one of Ralph’s greatest enjoyments. They went to the Caribbean, the Mediterranean and Hawaii. Ralph and Freda retired early and moved to Prescott Arizona in the early 90’s and built a custom home with a view of the national forest. They purchased a motor home and began to travel. They traveled frequently in the motorhome for over 20 years visiting the east coast every other year and traveling up into Alaska twice. In the early 2000’s Ralph and Freda moved back to California to live closer to their daughters. Ralph lost Freda in 2009 after 57 years of marriage. Ralph continued to enjoy watching his grandchildren grow up, graduate from college and marry. Ralph accepted our Lord Jesus Christ at a Billy Graham crusade he attended when he lived Prescott. On October 23, 2016, the Lord called Ralph home reuniting him with Freda.