I am coming late to this forum, but do want to add something. In Columbia, Mo in the late '60s, I was part of an alternative music and communal lifestyle group known as the Sound Farm. We had lofty aspirations, setting poems by William Blake, W.B. Yeats and John Neihardt to music in addition to playing a wide range of original songs. We were very poor, and Ralph let our entire group run a commmon tab at the Agora House. This gesture of support was critical to our survival as artists. The tab, at times, reached what was a high figure for that era, but Ralph never once said, "Pay up." We did pay our bills eventually, and it is with the greatest respect and enduring affection I remember him now. Thank you, Ralph, for all the lives you touched in a positive way, including ours. -Michael Cochran

Irene and family, Get to all of you. Ralph was an older brother to many of us who graced the concrete floors of the old store as fellow employees. His kindness balanced a gruff voice he affected. He loved to argue with those on staff, in cloned to say, " Oh, Ralph. Come off it. Get real." We worked hard alongside him. The store operated like a uh ge family. And Ralph, thank God, knew every voice, whim and inclination for work or play. REST IN PEACE!