RALPH EUGENE (GENE) DORSEY Jan. 31, 1927 – Jan. 2, 2020
Ralph Eugene (Gene) Dorsey
January 31, 1927 – January 2, 2020
“A Charmed Life” is how Ralph viewed his time on Earth…it was how he regularly described the experiences, people and places that gave him grace and acceptance in the knowledge that his moment would come when he would pass into eternal peace. He has joined his wife of 49 years, Edie, and many friends and relatives who also passed before him.
Ralph was born in Englewood, Colorado but moved to Rawlins, Wyoming as an infant. He was proud of his Danish-Hawaiian ancestry and visited both homelands in his lifetime, but Rawlins was always where his heart returned. Raised by his mom, Hazel Nelson, a delightful woman who played a mean game of cards, bowled in the 190s regularly, and wore red with a vengeance…she roared into her 20s in the Roaring 20s. Through Ralph’s formative years, Hazel was married to his adoptive father, Fred Dorsey. Ralph loved having Fred as his dad, as Fred was a prison guard with the Frontier Prison in Rawlins and had many tales to share as well as introducing Ralph to the amazingly gentle nature of those who were incarcerated, who together made a Flexible Flyer style sled for Ralph and allowed him to play softball with them in the prison yard. A beloved aunt, Lillian Heath, married to Ralph’s uncle Lou, was a source of pride to her Rawlins family. Aunt Lillian was the first woman physician in Wyoming and one of the first to practice west of the Mississippi and had marvelous stories of her frontier life riding horseback on house calls and being part of a variety of “interesting” surgeries.
As soon as Ralph graduated from high school, he enlisted in the Marine Corps. He was stationed at Camp Lejeune, NC for boot camp and then transferred to Parris Island, CA to await deployment. To his chagrin, and his mom’s relief, WW2 ended before he saw action. He took the discharge and advantage of the GI Bill to attend technical school in Chicago where he discovered electronics to be a fascinating subject. When he found out about the Secret City of Los Alamos, he wanted more than anything to be part of the intelligence and innovation that was unfolding and focused on landing a job with the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory.
Ralph arrived by train at the Lamy, NM station in 1949 and was transported, as were so many others, to a new and exciting life supporting LASL and living in group barracks with other bachelors. He was one of a group of a dozen or so from P-1 division who were at the Nevada test site for “Ranger” in 1951. It was his first “shot”, as the tests were called. As well, he was involved in “Castle Bravo” in 1954 at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The island life and sheer thrill of being part of such exciting tests were a source of many stories that he shared with his family, though he did respect the secrecy he was to keep concerning details of the operations. Though a controversial subject with friends and family, Ralph’s beliefs about testing as a necessity for national security never wavered. A member of both P-1 and J-12 divisions and through close work with EG&G, Ralph truly enjoyed the relationships he forged during his time at “The Lab”.
In the summer of 1952, Ralph met his “honey-babe”, Edith Esther Gustafson (Edie to some, Esther to others) through the Young Adults of the United Church. Ralph bemoaned that it took him 16 months before he found Edie, who arrived in Los Alamos in 1951 from Escanaba, Michigan to take a position with LASL as a secretary. They enjoyed many outings with the group and after Ralph proposed at Christmas in 1953, beautiful love letters were sent from the Pacific during Ralph’s work-related travel. They were married on June 26, 1954 at the United Church with a small group of friends in attendance. Their love story continued; picnics and camping and enjoying young married life in a duplex on Arkansas Street. In 1957, Christine Louise arrived on the scene. Ralph and Edie agreed over the following months and years that one ornery youngun’ was enough after chasing high-spirited Chris around the neighborhood and fielding pint-sized shenanigans. The Dorsey family moved from Sycamore Street in Los Alamos to White Rock in 1965. It was the first house they owned and they set about landscaping and building and fluffing their new nest. Ralph became quite capable with concrete and wood beams and thoroughly enjoyed the planning and execution of home projects.
After Ralph and Edie’s retirement in the mid-80s, they put aside toiling at home and took to the road. First, visiting relatives in Wyoming and Michigan then taking in a variety of destinations close to their hearts…historical and ancestry-related. Edie decided that a tour group would help them enjoy their travels even more and expand their horizons. Through Sun Tours out of Albuquerque, Ralph and Edie racked up over 50 trips together across the United States and overseas in the following years. Some of Ralph’s favorite trips were called “Mystery Tours” and were just that. They didn’t know where they were going to go or what they were going to do and that suited him just fine…an adventure into the unknown. Ralph and Edie traveled with the Sun Tours family up until Edie’s passing in 2003, and then Ralph eventually rejoined the group on a number of solo trips, using a trusty cane for the last few. Oh, and that cane…a modern aluminum number imprinted with pink and purple orchids that spoke to his Hawaiian heritage. He loved the way it looked, swore he had used it as necessary since he broke his leg in 1953 while skiing at Wolf Creek, and didn’t give a darn when someone pointed out that it was “a ladies cane”. That was Ralph, a man who was comfortable in his own skin. Though he could be a chameleon of sorts, he was always true to himself.
In Ralph’s recent years, one of his most precious experiences was “discovering” the White Rock Senior Center. Though Edie volunteered at the Senior Centers in Los Alamos and White Rock, Ralph had other interests. After Edie’s passing in 2003, Ralph eventually moseyed along quite happily…watching and recording old movies (editing out those “damn commercials”) and eventually amassed over 1,000 pirated copies, all the while consuming large quantities of Reese’s cups and mugs of Hawaiian punch, staying up until 6 a.m. and sleeping til noon like a happy-go-lucky teenager, and generally living his own version of “the Life of Riley”. Then, good friend Jack Clifford convinced Ralph to try out the Thursday night Poker-Plus Chat event. The words “night” and “chat” resonated. One visit and he was hooked. Bless your heart, Jack, for being persistent…and for the steady supply of Key Lime pie and handfuls of Reese’s cups at nights end. The friendly banter, new friendships and old ones rekindled, and the very wonderful experience of being part of the WRSC family was key to Ralph’s thriving over the past decade of his life. Though his friendly nature could be deceiving, Ralph was by nature shy and content with being solitary. The Senior Center and events associated, such as the White Rock Baptist Breakfast on Wednesday’s and coffee with the guys on Saturday afternoons, extended his contentment ten-fold over these more recent years.
In his passing, Ralph leaves behind his daughter Chris, son-in-law Greg, grandchildren Kimberly and Kevin, close cousins Barbara (Bill), Beverly, Bill, Judy, Jerry, and Jon (Marsha). With five aunts and uncles (all deceased), a multitude of cousins are scattered across the country. All carry on the fun-loving, rollicking heritage of the Wyoming roots Ralph fully embraced. As well, he leaves behind his beloved friends at the White Rock Senior Center, house-mates at the Beehive Assisted Living in White Rock, and wonderful friendships he forged in his years living and working in Los Alamos and White Rock. A private family service and interment of Ralph and Edie’s ashes is planned in the Spring.
Chris would like to recognize and thank the many people key to Ralph’s happy and full life in Los Alamos…you know who you are and how much Ralph valued your presence in his life. Family is family but friends choose you and you choose them. I am grateful for you all.
All of us who knew Ralph will remember him in their own way. Chris, “Kitten” to her dad, will always cherish the very many wonders and memories – camping in Bandelier (back when we could enjoy the night-magic of camping streamside in the canyon), fishing before dawn at Canjilon Lakes, long-winded stories and silly and sometimes off-color jokes, his love of prose and poetry, his amazing singing voice and whistling with vibrato…my parents unintentionally taught me the lyrics to many show tunes by singing around the house, harmonizing and filling in when the other forgot the words. He gifted me with a multitude of projects from his shop and taught me the ins-and-outs of proper tool usage and the confidence to try my own projects…he helped “raise the roof” at the age of 70 when an addition was put on our family home in Albuquerque. My dad trusted that I could learn chess and calculus with his patient guidance (which I didn’t). He knew a good movie (the Mark of Zorro with Tyrone Power) from a bad one (“almost anything made after 1970”). He was, and always will be, a true and constant light in my life.
On the living room wall of Ralph’s house hangs a copy of Desiderata by Max Ehrmann (c. 1927…the same year Ralph was born). He loved that poem and would have wanted to share, in part:
Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons.
You are a child of the Universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the Universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.
Rest in Peace, Big Kahuna