Ralph William Coole

Ralph William Coole

Feb. 10, 1927 – Sept. 18, 2015

Ralph was born in Exeter, California in 1927, the second child of Louis R. & Mary Jane Coole. His early education occurred in Orange Cove and Porterville in the San Joaquin Valley, and he spent summers in Mineral King before it became part of Sequoia National Park. For one of his first jobs, Ralph pasted the labels on orange crates in valley packing houses for two bits ($0.25) per 100 labels. He attended UC Berkeley and received a B. S. in accounting in 1950. Ralph remained a Cal Bear fan for the rest of his life.

After finishing at Cal, he spent two years in the Army in Texas and Arkansas. Ralph then returned to California in 1952, where he passed the CPA exam and began his career as an accountant. While working for a firm in San Francisco he met Marilyn Davis and they were married in 1953. They started their family of three daughters and one son and moved to San Jose in 1963 to join a local CPA firm where Ralph became a partner.

Ralph was always willing to help his friends and family. He was active in the local CPA Society and served as its President. Even after retiring in 1992, he continued to help family members and friends with their tax returns.

The family joined the First Congregational Church in 1963 and throughout the years Ralph served as Treasurer, Moderator and as a member of local and conference committees. He served as an usher and helped with the Sunday collection until his death.

Another community interest of Ralph’s was cycling. As a member of the Almaden Cycle Touring Club, he served as Treasurer for many years and always looked forward to assisting with the Tierra Bella ride in April. He participated in many group rides in California, Oregon, and Idaho. Ralph was also always fond of watching the Tour de France every summer.

Ralph had many interests with some highlights being:

a. He was a life-long San Francisco Giants fan. If he was not at the game, and it wasn’t on TV, Ralph was listening to it on the radio. He enjoyed other sports as well and spent several years as a little league volunteer.

b. Ralph liked puzzles whether they were jigsaw puzzles, wood puzzles or metal puzzles.

c. He enjoyed barbequing and his BBQ Thanksgiving turkey was a tradition.

d. Ralph enjoyed a good bottle of wine and started making household objects out of wine corks. All members of the family have a “cork board” and a trivet of corks.

e. After retirement Ralph had more time for reading and read a great variety of books. He had an almost full collection of Louis L’Amour books and was interested in books about California history.

f. Throughout his life he smoked a pipe and had an extensive collection of pipes that numbered in the hundreds from around the country and world.

He is survived by his wife Marilyn Coole, daughter Margery Mulvihill (Jerry) of Fresno, son Richard Coole (JoAnne) of Huber Heights OH, daughter Maryann Coole of San Jose, and daughter Marcia Coole (Carl Becerra) of Roseville. He leaves three grandchildren Martin Mulvihill (Nilofar Gardezi) of Oakland, Lynette Talbott (Logan) of Truckee, and Matthew Becerra of Roseville. He has one great-granddaughter Roshan Mulvihill Gardezi. His sister Mary Lou Huebert preceded him in death but he has several nieces and nephews who will miss him.

He used to tell his children something we will always remember: “You will never learn any younger.” He set an example by continuing to learn throughout his life.

A celebration of his life will be held at 11:00 am on Saturday October 3, 2015 at First Congregational Church, UCC of San Jose.--1980 Hamilton Ave, San Jose 95125

In lieu of flowers the family requests that you make a donation in his name to your favorite charity.