Ralph Harrod

Funeral services for Ralph Walter Harrod will be held at 10:00 a.m., Thursday, August 27, 2015 at First Baptist Church on Gillette Avenue with Pastor David Stene officiating. Visitation with the family will be from 9:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. at the church. Graveside services will be held at Mt. Pisgah Cemetery following the service.With his family by his bedside, Ralph died on Sunday, August 23, 2015 at Campbell County Memorial Hospital, after a long battle with cancer. He was 79 years of age.Ralph was born on September 2, 1935, in Sheridan, Wyoming to William and Frances Harrod. Raised in Gillette, he attended local schools and graduated from CCHS in 1953. He played varsity sports and lettered in football, basketball and track. He was a lifelong Camel fan and seldom, if ever, missed a home football or basketball game in his 62 years since graduation.After graduation, Ralph and his high school sweetheart, Loa Jean Wells, were married on August 1, 1953. Five children were born of this union, Donald, David, Jeanette, William and Sharon.That same summer, Ralph began work at the Wyoming Highway Department in Gillette where he worked for 37 years until his early retirement in 1990. He received a surveying and mapping certificate and spent his working years surveying interstate and state highways in the Gillette and northeast Wyoming areas. From those years on the highways, he assembled an interesting collection of rattlesnake rattles and Native American arrowheads and spearheads.In 1953, on the sand greens of Gillette Municipal Golf Club (near the Gillette airport), a friend introduced Ralph to the game of golf, which soon developed into a life-long passion for the game. He taught his sons the game and they enjoyed the same passion for golf as their Dad. Ralph won numerous area tournaments but seldom talked about his abilities or achievements. When weather conditions allowed, which in his mind were most days, he was at the course ready to go. He enjoyed six decades of play among hundreds of golfing peers. Local golfers easily recognized Ralph for his unique putting style, plus he loved building and repairing golf clubs. He surveyed the hole-yardage distances for Gillette Country Club and Bell Nob Golf Club. Ralph's love for the game was truly unique; he was the epitome of the Wyoming amateur golfer!Ralph is survived by his loving wife of 62 years, Jean; children David Harrod (Margarita) of Limerick, PA (grandchildren, Andrew, Allison and Alec); Jeanette Harrod Dunn of Coeur d' Alene, ID (grandchild Steven); Bill Harrod (Bobbi) of Gillette (grandchildren Jennifer, Ryan, Chris, Steven and Brandon); Sharon Harrod of Gillette (grandchild Jessica); and sister Bettye Austin Griffiths of Glendale, AZ.Ralph was preceded in death by an infant son, Donald Lynn, parents William and Frances Harrod, and brother, Robert Harrod.Memorial gifts may be made in memory of Ralph Harrod for the Bell Nob Swing for the Cure annual golf tournament benefiting breast cancer patients in Northeast Wyoming located at 1109 Indian Hills Drive, Gillette, WY 82716 or online at www.bellnobswing.com. Condolences may be sent to Gillette Memorial Chapel, 210 West 5th Street, Gillette, WY 82716 or posted online at www.gillettememorialchapel.com.Funeral Home:Gillette Memorial Chapel210 West Fifth Street Gillette, WYUS 82716