Russell William Ralphs
April 20, 1941 - November 2, 2015

Russ Ralphs, 74 of Burlington died Monday, November 2, 2015 at his home after a courageous fight with brain cancer. Born April 20, 1941 in Berkeley, California, he was the son of Samuel and Mildred Ralphs. On May 1, 1977 he married Barbara Hall at the Little Brown Church in Nashua Iowa.
Russ graduated from Mount Diablo High School, CA in 1959 and graduated with an Electronics Technician degree from Diablo Valley College in 1961. He has been an amateur radio operator for over sixty years, getting his license as a teenager with the call sign WA6GUF. He was a member of the local Iowa-Illinois Amateur Radio Club and volunteered at Old Threshers Reunion as part of the Mt. Pleasant Amateur Radio Club for many years. He also was a long time volunteer for Burlington Steamboat Days working security at the front gate. He received the Governor's Volunteer Award in 2000 for an emergency response drill. He enjoyed building hot rods from an early age and belonged to the East Bay Rods Car Club in Concord, California. Later on he restored antique cars and belonged to the Gra-Neva Model A Club in Nevada City California.
He worked for Applied Radiation in California for 7 years designing linear accelerators. He then started his own electronics business with a long time friend designing and manufacturing printed circuit boards. He later started a graphics design business. He and Barb had 2 clothing stores, and an electronics store in Grass Valley, California and an antiques store in Nevada City before moving to Burlington to start a property management business.
He loved building and repairing radios and electronic equipment as well as attending ham radio fests where he sold radio antennas that he had designed. Some of his many talents were restoring homes, repairing computers, violin restoration, photography and oil painting. He enjoyed collecting, repairing and selling antique clocks. He had many antique collections that he cherished.
He is survived by his mother, Millie Ralphs who is 98 years old, sister Joanne Gephart of Clayton, CA, and brother Ron (Jennifer) Ralphs of Placerville, CA. He is also survived by his wife of 38 years, Barbara Ralphs, 3 daughters from his first marriage Lynnette Thomason, Laurie Klein and Linda Neff all of California and 3 sons Seth (Kerri) Ralphs, Jesse (Stephanie) Ralphs and Jeremy Ralphs all of Burlington, 13 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren, nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his father, Samuel Ralphs.
A private family burial will be at North Walker Cemetery on Wednesday, November 4th. The Celebration of Life for Russ will be from 4 until 7p.m. Friday, November 6th, at the Port of Burlington meeting room. This will be a casual event per Russ's wishes. He will be very much missed by his family.
Memorials have been established for Southeast Iowa Parkinson's Support Group and the Iowa-Illinois Amateur Radio Club.
Lunning Chapel is in charge of arrangements.

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