Born in Dartmouth, son of the late Manuel M. and Margaret (Haegele) Costa. He lived his entire life in Dartmouth.
Mr. Costa served in Korea in the United States Army. He was a volunteer Dartmouth fire fighter beginng in 1969 for District 1 and later in District 2 and served his town for over a decade. For many years Ralph worked on a family dairy farm on Bakerville Road. He helped build many docks in the New England area as a piledriver and later moved into pipe installation and excavation for a local contractor. He was a man of many skills and was at home when working on his tractors. He was quick witted and had a never ending supply of one liners ready to go.
He is survived by two daughters, Sheilarey Swallow and her husband Shawn of Dartmouth and Sheri Francis and her husband Thomas of New Bedford; a stepson, Wayne Hemenway and his wife Leann of CO; grandchildren, Bryan Swallow, Austin Francis, Chace Francis, Marlene Matos, Justin Matos, and Daniel Matos; and a nephew, Marty Costa. He was the brother of the late David Costa and father of the late Arlene Matos.
His funeral will be Friday, October 7, 2022 at 10 a.m. from the WARING-SULLIVAN HOME at DARTMOUTH, 230 Russells Mills Rd., Dartmouth followed by a graveside service at 10:45 a.m. in South Dartmouth Cemetery. Visitation will be Thursday 4-7 p.m. For online tribute/directions: www.waring-sullivan.com.
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