Ralph Edward Seals

Ralph Edward Seals was born in Lone Wolf, OK on February 6, 1919. He attended school in Lone Wolf, graduating from high school in 1936. He remained in Lone Wolf and continued to work on his father's farm and as a service station attendant until enlisting in the United States Army Air Corps on January 21, 1941. He served as an Airplane Maintenance Tech and achieved the grade of Master/Sergeant. During his service he was awarded the American Theater with 1 bronze battle star World War II

Victory Medal and the American Defense Good Conduct medal. He was honorably discharged on October 31, 1945. On January 31, 1944, he married the love of his life, Pansy J. Hoehn. Before his honorable

discharge, they lived in Riverside, California. After his discharge, they returned to Kiowa County and made their home in Hobart, OK.

Ralph and his brother, Ray (who received his honorable discharge a couple of months after Ralph's discharge) bought their first service station on January 7, 1945.

They later had the opportunity to associate with Mobil Oil Company and as a part of the agreement, acquire the valuable wholesale distributorship. As a part of that decision, they sold their first service station and purchased the station owned by Mobil on October 13, 1952. As a result of hard work and long hours, their business was a success. Long hours meant

opening the station each morning around 6 am and closing each night at 9 pm seven days a week. The seven-day work week continued until 1974 when the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries imposed an Oil Embargo against the United States, causing gas shortages that resulted in gas rationing, which in turn made it necessary for stations to reduce their hours of operation. Even after the gas shortages ended, the brothers decided they would no longer work on Sundays. Ralph continued working 6 days a week until shortly after his 65th birthday. He retired in April 1984.

Ralph quickly settled into retirement, establishing a daily routine of walking multiple miles and participating in three coffee groups. (Pansy would mention to family members that he also had a routine of changing clothes three times a day after having worn work clothes daily for almost

40 years.). Pansy and Ralph also spent a considerable amount of time driving to and from Enid to spend time with their two grandsons, Adam and Ryan, as well as traveling to many other places that they had always wanted to see.

Unfortunately, times are not always good. Pansy developed some significant health issues including early signs of dementia. In 2006, Ralph decided that it was necessary to move to the Oklahoma City area to be closer to family and health facilities. They moved to Epworth Villa

and Ralph, with assistance of family, continued to care for Pansy until her death on January 12, 2010.

After Pansy's death, Ralph continued to live at Epworth and developed many friendships. One of those friendships was with Cleo Dupy, whose wife had also recently died. They found that they had similar interests and spent significant time together both at Epworth and on excursions to check on farms owned by Cleo in Northern Oklahoma, attend livestock shows,

etc. Ralph lived at Epworth for approximately 10 years.

In 2018, Ralph, Jr. and his wife Marcia moved to Granbury, Texas to be closer to their two sons and their families. Ralph accepted their invitation to live with them and did so for approximately 4 years, enjoying time on the lake and family get togethers. Ralph then moved to an assisted living facility nearby due to numerous health issues. Although in declining

health, there were still good times. One example was a 100th birthday salute by the Hood County Military Veterans as part of their monthly Veterans Coffee Break, which also included a picture and a brief article about this salute in the Hood County News. A second example

occurred at Ralph's 104th birthday celebration, when he was interviewed by a reporter from the Hood County News. The reporter then decided to write a two page article that appeared in that newspaper.

A third example was his participation in "Dream Flights" on April 23, 2024. Dream Flights is a non-profit organization that provides free flights in restored WWII-era biplanes to senior veterans to honor their service. Ralph was 105 when he took that flight, and at that point in time, he was the oldest veteran to do so. Ralph died on October 30, 2025.

Survivors include his son, Ralph Seals, Jr. and wife, Marcia,

of Granbury, TX, his two grandsons, Adam and wife Jennifer, of Houston, TX, and Ryan and wife, Jalea of Fort Worth, TX as well as his four great-grandchildren, Jordyn, Levi, Jaxon, and Iris, all of whom he treasured and loved spending time with.

Graveside: 3:00 p.m., Saturday, November 8, 2025

Hobart Rose Cemetery

Hobart, Oklahoma

Services are under the direction of Ray & Martha's Funeral Home, Hobart