February 20

 Ralph Edgar Till died 20 February 2017

Ralph was my dad's cousin. He was the son of Leonard and Madge Treat Till.

Madge was a sister of my grandmother Christie Treat Thomas.

Ralph and my dad were very close growing up. Here is a story my dad wrote in his memoirs about Ralph:

OUT OF GAS    

  I don’t remember how old I was when this picture was taken but it reminded me of the time that my cousin Ralph Till and I were coming home one night in the winter time and we ran out of gas about one mile from his house.  I said to Ralph, I guess we are going to walk from here, and Ralph said no, we are going to ride. As he was removing the gasoline cap, I said how do you figure that? Ralph said get up here and pee in this gasoline tank.  Ralph had a 1929 model A Ford. The gasoline tank was above the engine and the gasoline was gravity feed.   Did you know that gasoline is lighter than water? Well it is. Anyway, in the bottom of the gas tank (all gas tanks back then) is a tube that sticks up about 1/4 inch or more, so we knew that we still had some gasoline in the tank.  So... when we peed in the gasoline tank, the gas floated up to the top and the car started and we drove home.  The next day we removed the gasoline line from the bottom of the tank and drained out the water and gasoline and put in new gasoline.   

  I remember having a lot of fun in this Model A, going to South Haven and parking on Main Street in front of the drug store, or as close as we could, and watching the girls go by.  Going down to the beach to go swimming after the movies.  One time when we were swimming off the south pier with Lester Schrantz and Louie Koslink, Louie got caught in the undertow and was sucked into a hole in the side of the pier. Ralph and Lester had to go down and get him. It’s a wonder they found him, let alone get him out.  He had swallowed some water but was all right. We were all scared so we went home, and as far as I know none of us ever told anyone about it. 

Photo L-R: Louie Koslink, Ralph Till, Lester Schrantz, Richard Thomas (my dad)

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This story and others from my dad's memoirs are included in my book Secret and Resolute, available on Amazon.