Ralph Max Widmaier

Long-time resident of Rockland County Rolf (Ralph) Max Widmaier. 70. Valley Cottage, NY. Passed peacefully on May 24th at his home due to Esophageal Cancer. While in great pain but being the tough German that he was, Ralph never once complained throughout his ordeal. His goal was to be like Joan Hallinan who bravely fought and never complained of her illness.

Life

Born April 1, 1943 to Max and Augusta Widmaier both immigrants to the US from Germany. Ralph was raised in Saugerties, NY. Ralph and his childhood friends often found ways to keep occupied by swimming every summer day in a local swimming hole or hunting squirrels. As a child, he was always up to some kind of mischief. He bought his first car for $15 at twelve years old and hid it from his parents by parking it in the woods. He and his friends learned how to keep it running and learned to drive by racing it on old logging roads. Once, he was questioned by a state trooper, who wondered why, a young boy was rolling a flat, car tire to a gas station.

As an adult Ralph followed his father into the auto-body business, eventually opening his own shop in Congers. He hand dug the foundation himself in order to afford the building. In the early years of his business, he often started his workday at 3:00am in order to finish jobs on time. Later, Ralph turned to the car wash and home building businesses. He helped many local high-school students by providing them their first job and encouraging them to do better. Although he never publicized it, Ralph was very proud of his support of the Wounded Warrior Project. Wounded Warrior Project serves veterans and service members who incurred a physical or mental injury, illness, or wound, co-incident to their military service on or after September 11, 2001 and their families.

Ralph was a great Dad to his children. He taught his son baseball and thought up the idea of making masking tape baseballs from left over tape from paint jobs from his auto body shop. He would come home straight from work to hit hundreds of ground balls and pitch hundreds of masking tape balls, which couldn’t fly out of the backyard or break any windows. Dad taught his daughter Lisa many things while growing up from learning to drive, to swim, and realizing it "must be 5 o'clock somewhere" and time for a cocktail. But her fondest memory as a kid was singing, "rain drops keep failing on my head" together with Dad, which always made her feel special. Lisa was able to share that special moment with him again in the final minutes of his life, by signing it to him. Ralph’s youngest daughter Kathleen, cherishes memories of her Dad being very involved with her children. Whether it was taking them out for ice-cream, bringing Harrison to his first Yankee game, showing up at soccer, t-ball games or school field days, the bowling alley or watching a guitar lesson, “Grandpa” made it a point to be involved in their lives. Kathleen and her family will live in the house he just completed building for them (in between chemo treatments).

Without fail, Ralph watched his beloved Yankees every summer day. He loved to razz Mets, Red Sox and Braves fans about the Yankees 27 World Series titles and saying “talk to me in October about your team” or Jets, Falcons and New England Patriots fans of the Giants Super Bowls. Ralph also loved to play golf not only for the game itself but also for the fellowship. He and his foursome often had the first tee-time at Rockland Lake or Philip J. Rotela golf course. His love of golf, friends and hard work eventually led him to own a vacation home in South-West Florida where he could golf throughout the winter and hang out with and enjoy meeting a whole new group good friends. Ralph particularly enjoyed Bike Night at Rodes.

Dad’s character and personality was best summed up by a note sent by friends during his last days:

“Just wanted to know how much you are missed. We miss seeing your smiling, friendly face. Discussing sport, scores, etc. Always upbeat and sometimes sharing stories from the past, never speaking derogatory of anyone. It is always a pleasure being in your company.”

Family

Ralph is survived by; his wife of 51 years Patricia; son Ralph K. Widmaier and his wife Donna (Ralph’s favorite, albeit only, daughter-in-law) of Marietta, Georgia; daughter Lisa and her husband Angelo DeCeglie of Rhode Island; and daughter Kathleen and her husband Harold Hilderbrand of Blauvelt, NY. Ralph is also survived by seven grandchildren: Kevin, Lauren and Meghan Widmaier; Michael DeCeglie; and Harrison, Max and Kaylin Hilderbrand. Family in Germany including his cousin Heinz Nesper also survive him. His sister, Helen Rutgers, as well as, his cousins Margaret Suedes and Berndt Nesper predeceases Ralph. Ralph was blessed to have many friends in both NY and Florida including childhood friends Bart and Barry Hill. Local friends Bill Dauska, John Facciala, John Saetre, Peter Wortendyke, Michael Manera, Bob (H&R Plumbing) Tom and Eileen McGovern, Richard and Linda Marshall, Sean Keenan, Dr. Maureen Cooney, Jeannette and Tony Piselli and Don Lynch. Florida friends Bill and Gloria McMahon, Albert Kennis, Sue and Dave (deceased) Loach, Kathleen Goodwin, Greg (Captain Morgan) Schantz and Lyn, Mike and Mary, Monty and Donna Wineland, Bart and Terri DeSanto, Walter and Carolyn Kean, Dave (Captain Dave), Tom and Monica Connors, Ray, Ted and Coni Briones, Frank Andrews, Fred Kozlowski and Fred and Sherri Redmann.

Service

Visiting hours are Tuesday, May 28th between 2-4pm and 7-9pm. A Service will be held at St. Paul's Church on Wednesday, May 29, 2013 at 10:00am. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Wounded Warriors Project at: https://support.woundedwarriorproject.org.

End

Thank you to the doctors and care-givers who helped Dad fight his cancer including: Dr. Inderpal Sarkaria of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Dr. Minaxi Jhawer and her nursing assistants Jennifer Esposito and Jean of Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, and Catlin McNeil-Cox of United Hospice of Rockland.