Ralph Nicholas
Ralph O. Nicholas was an Estes Park resident born December 18, 1928 in Grand Island, Nebraska. He married Genevieve Dunn on December 23, 1951 in Grand Island. Ralph and Genevieve spent twenty-four of their sixty-three years retired together in Estes Park, Colorado.
Ralph worked thirty- five years for Great Lakes Pipeline and the Williams Pipeline companies as a field chemist, working in Grand Island; Watertown, South Dakota; Aleandria, Minnesota; Kansas City, Kansas; and El Dorado, Kansas. Ralph enjoyed acting in community theater, including a role in Absence of a Cello in Augusta, Kansas, and in On Golden Pond, Foxfire, and The Cocktail Hour in Forest Lake, Minnesota. While in Forest Lake, he also participated professionally in a short film. After retiring to Estes Park, Ralph was active in the community, serving as an officer of the Association for Responsible Development (ARD) and the local chapter of the American Association of Independent Investors. In 2007, Ralph was proud to partner with long-time friend Byron Hall to advance a petition for a citizen-initiated ordinance requiring a public vote of approval for the sale of Stanley Lot 4 by the Town of Estes Park. The ordinance passed with seventy-four percent voter approval, and Ralph was grateful for the many volunteers and financial contributors who made it possible. For many years, Ralph participated in the Estes Park National Guard coffee group, and after Genevieve’s passing in 2015, he was grateful for the many new friendships formed at the Estes Park Senior Center. Ralph’s final wish was to thank his many friends, old and new, in Estes Park.
He is survived by his sister, Shirley (and Ernie) Sheffert of Lincoln; his three sons, Steven of Kansas City, Kansas, Mark and wife Nonna of Tucson, Arizona, and Jon of Estes Park, Colorado; grandson, Timur Beketov, and granddaughter, Diana “Dina” Nicholas, both of Tucson and granddaughter, Anna Reagan of Springfield, Missouri. He is predeceased by his parents, Vern Nicholas, (1896-1902) and Lois Winset Nicholas (1903-1968) and his sister, Vera Marie Peterson, (1926-2016), of St. Paul, and Shirley Jean Scheffert (1943-2020) of Lincoln.
A memorial service and inurnment of ashes took place on Friday, May 12, 2023 at Rose Hill Cemetery in Palmer, along with inurnment of ashes of his son, Steven Alexander Nicholas (1952-2022).