Charles Ralph Guilieri

Born January 5, 1918 in Grass Valley, California, and passed away June 6, 2011 in Roseville, California at the age of 93 years old. Ralph grew up on 27th Street above his mother Pauline Gardner Guilieri’s Deli she owned. Ralph, while attending high school took vocational courses in Linotype Operator and graduated from Senior High school, Sacramento in 1936. After graduating, he worked for 4 years as a Linotype Operator for the Ripon Weekly Record newspaper in Ripon, California. Then Ralph got a job as a stock boy in the San Francisco office of Intertype, a firm that sold printing equipment to newspapers. Intertype later became part of Harris, the company that sold the Statesman its VDT system. Then On February 3, 1941 Ralph joined the U.S Army as a Staff Sergeant in the 536th Field Artillery Battalion where he served in World War II as a Fire Control Operator Sergeant where he supervised 30 enlisted men, as chief of detail, to prepare firing data for the operation of field artillery guns. Ralph received many medals which include the following; Good Conduct Medal, European African Middle Eastern Campaign Medial, Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal, and American Defense Service Medal. Ralph was discharged with Honors from the military service of the United States of America on July 12, 1945, and he received a certificate awarding him with a testimonial of Honest and Faithful Service to his country. Ralph’s girlfriend, Dorothy Magdelena Siegmund waited all of 3 years to marry him, and when he was on leave from the military they quickly went to the Court House in the county of Muskogee, in the State of Oklahoma, to get their marriage license and were married August 5th 1944 in a Catholic church. Ralph and Dorothy had one child Ronald Francis Guilieri Sr. who lives in Cascade, Idaho. Ralph and Dorothy ended up in California after he was discharged and Ralph rejoined Intertype as a machinist and, in 1951, became a salesman for the firm, calling on newspapers in Northern California and western Nevada. In 1958, he quit selling printing equipment and started using it when he took a job on the newspaper in Concord, Calif. as a nighttime machinist-operator. A year later he joined the Richmond, Calif., Independent newspaper as composing room foreman and it was a move that would take him to Boise and The Statesman. The former Intertype salesman, Jim Brown, had become the owner of the Statesman and he happened to be in Richmond one day in 1961, looking at some printing equipment. Jim Brown met Ralph and after some discussion, he offered Ralph the job as assistant general manager of The Statesman. Ralph accepted and joined the Statesman on Sept. 15, 1961. Robert B. Miller, publisher of the Statesman called Ralph “a key factor in the growth and success of the Statesman over his career for almost 17 years as general manager.” Ralph had a common sense approach to problems, his cool head, his broad newspaper knowledge and his warm and friendly demeanor earned him great respect in the business and among the public. Ralph was ready to turn things over to others when he realized the past few years he would be camping by a stream, the fish would still be biting and it would be Sunday and it was getting tougher to pack up and go to work. Ralph retired on Jan. 31st 1978 after almost 17 years as the Assistant General Manager and General Manager of the Idaho Statesman. During his retirement with his wife Dorothy they loved to travel in their motorhome. Even when Dorothy had her stroke in the summer of 1989 they continued to travel in the motorhome. Ralph had installed a device that would lift Dorothy into the door of the motor home. After a few years they decided to quit traveling and moved to Roseville, California where their grandson Ron Guilieri Jr. and Tami Galliett both lived with their families. Ron and Tami loved having their grandparents so close and made sure that they were well taken care of for the remainder of their life. They loved being around the great grandchildren and watching them grow up. Dorothy passed away May 2006. Ralph and Dorothy were married for 62 years. After Dorothy’s death Tami would attend monthly dinners with Ralph and his neighbors. Ron Jr. would go over to watch all the sports events with him. As long as Ralph had a sports event to watch he was happy. He enjoyed all the family events because he couldn’t wait to get his great big hugs from all the great grandchildren etc. Ralph has left a huge impact on everyone who had the pleasure in meeting him. Ralph was a kind, considerate, and a gently man who will be missed by many who has ever been in his company. A memorial service will be held at Mount Vernon, 8201 Greenback Lane, Fair Oaks, CA on Friday June 17th, 2011 at 2:00 pm. In lieu of flowers, a memorial scholarship in C.Ralph Guilieri’s name will be presented to students with Learning Disabilities for support in college. Send donations to C. R Guilieri Scholarship, 1418 Kennedy Dr. Roseville, California 95678.