Ralph Martin Weaver, 99, passed away on September 1, 2025. He celebrated his 99th birthday two weeks before his passing. He was born and raised in New London, Ohio, the oldest child of Ken and Alberta Weaver.
He attended Baldwin Wallace University in Berea, Ohio, where he pursued a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and where he met the love of his life, Evelyn. He enlisted in the Navy in June 1944 and began his training at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago and later at Great Lakes Naval Training Facility. At the rank of Seaman 2nd class, he was stationed in San Francisco Bay aboard the US Oklahoma City. The war ended before he ever shipped out.
He returned to Baldwin Wallace to finish his degree and of course, to Evelyn. Ralph and Evelyn married in February 1948. The newlyweds first set up housekeeping in Pittsburgh PA while Ralph pursued a second degree in Civil Engineering at the Carnegie Institute of Technology. His first job as an engineer was with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). Norris Tennessee was where they started their family and had the first three of their five children. In 1954 a job opportunity in Chicago meant Ralph and Evelyn, both raised in small-town America, decided to take a chance to live and raise their kids in a big city where they had two more children.
His 43-year career in Chicago included significant challenges and even some travel adventure. In Chicago, he worked for Cook Research, Portland Cement Institute and Fluor Power before moving on to Harza Engineering. At Cook Research he undertook to develop techniques for sweeping hydraulic ship mines. At Portland Cement Institute he authored two engineering manuals. At Fluor Power he developed cooling water systems for nuclear power stations, rising to manage the civil engineering group.
Two of his infrastructure projects sent him all over the country as well as to Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. He directed the design and construction of the Bath County Virginia pump storage facility that took 8 years to complete. Today, it remains the largest pumped storage facility in the world. The project in Brazil was a water supply system for the city of Rio De Janeiro.
Ralph was an active member of the Illinois Society of Professional Engineers where he served as president. He returned to IIT to teach a laboratory course on fluid dynamics. His community service included being an elected member of the local school board; a member of Kiwanis; and an active member of the United Methodist Church both in Chicago and Seattle.
In addition to helping Evelyn raise five children, Ralph pursued some personal passions. He learned to downhill ski and taught himself sailing and woodworking. Over the years he rose from what one might call an apprentice level carpenter to a master craftsman. As his expertise grew so did his shop. Over the years he acquired all the power and hand tools his projects required… power saws, sanders, joiners, drill press and a lathe to name only a few. Some of his most ambitious projects include a four-poster bed, a mantle clock, a grandfather clock, a small beginner’s sailboat and a canoe. He spent his adult life filling his family’s home with furniture made by his loving hands.
In 1985 Ralph retired and he and Evelyn set off on their next adventure moving to another great American city. This time Seattle where they could live in “paradise” as they called it on Bainbridge Island. Now it was time to pursue their shared dreams of becoming serious sailors and traveling the world which they did together for the next 32 years until Evelyn passed away in 2017.
Ralph is survived by his five children, Mark (Charissa), Kathleen (Dan), Barbara, Bruce (Kitty), Sue (Dave), six grandchildren, and four great grandchildren and his brother Jack and sister-in-law Patricia. He is preceded in death by his younger sister Joan.
