Ralph Richard Mace Sr., 81, a former resident of Junior and Belington, and for the past six years, a resident of Cortland Acres Nursing Home at Thomas, departed this life at 12:25 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2002, at the nursing home. He had been in declining health since 1995 and death was attributed to congestive heart failure associated with Alzheimer’s Disease.
He was born Nov. 26, 1920, at Linwood, Pocahontas County, a son of the late Charles Henry Mace and Birdie Ann Jackson Mace.
On Nov. 22, 1941, at Buckhannon, he was married to the former Beatrice Louise “Bea” Edmond, who preceded him in death on April 5, 1995.
Surviving are one son, Ralph Richard “Rich” Mace Jr., Belington; two daughters, Charlotte McDonald and husband, Bennie, DeLora “DeDe” Smith, all of Junior; four grandchildren, Jon Richard McDonald and Deborah Lambert, both of Elkins, Ralph Richard Mace III, Point Pleasant Road Community, and J.R. Smith, Belington; and three great-grandchildren, Melanie McDonald, Junior, and Jacob and Jessica Lambert, both of Elkins.
He was the last surviving member of his immediate family, having been preceded in death by six brothers, Paul, James, Guy and Charles D. Mace Sr. and two infants; and five sisters, Zella Hoyle, Mary Jaggie, Alea Jack, Lucy Sturdivant and Leanna Mace.
He was a graduate of Coalton 12-year School with the class of 1937. He was a veteran of the U.S. Army during World War II serving as a private from 1942 to 1944. He had worked for the West Virginia Coal and Coke Company, had been a logger for the Ray Ware Logging Co. During 1958, he moved to Bisbee, Ariz., where he worked in the copper mines and, upon returning to West Virginia, worked for the DeMotto Coal Co. at Norton as an electrician and motorman. In 1968, he and his wife, “Bea,” became the owners and operators of the Tygart Restaurant at Grafton, retiring in 1977. He was a former two-term councilman for the town of Junior. He was an avid bowler and car mechanic and a Methodist.
Friends will be received at Lohr & Barb Funeral Home from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. today. Final rites will be conducted at the funeral home chapel Friday at 1 p.m. The Rev. Dr. Basil A. Hensley will officiate and interment will follow at the Trinity Cemetery near Junior
