Ralph Gilmen Frick

Ralph was born in Edwardsville, Illinois, on February 12, 1927. Due to the premature deaths of his parents, he was raised by his paternal grandparents. He graduated from High School in 1944 and joined the Navy, becoming a Navy Medical Corpsman. The week before he was scheduled to ship out to Japan, the United States bombed Hiroshima.

Using the G.I. bill, Ralph attended Washington University in St. Louis, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1949. To supplement the G.I. Bill, he worked with Tau Kappa Epsilon National Fraternity, visiting university chapters west of Missouri. He then attended the University of Illinois School of Dentistry, graduating in 1954 with honors. In 1955, he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Medicine and went on to complete residencies at Cleveland City Hospital and Indianapolis General Hospital in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery.

While attending a dental convention in Chicago, Ralph met Loretta Richards, a dental assistant from Indianapolis. They were married in June 1955 and moved to Clearwater in 1958, where he started his own Oral Surgery practice.

In addition to his dental practice, Ralph served as the President of the Rotary Club of Clearwater. In 1991, he established the Rotary Club of Clearwater Endowment Fund to permanently provide for the needs of the community. He also served as the President of the Upper Pinellas Dental Society, a Director of the Barnett Bank of Pinellas County and a Director and member of the Carlouel Yacht Club. His hobbies included tennis, studying Civil War and World War II history and traveling extensively with Loretta in the United States, Europe and Canada.

Ralph is survived by his wife, Loretta; his daughters Catherine Faulkner of St. Petersburg, Deborah Hogan of Brooksville and Jeanne Mott of Indian Rocks Beach; as well as four grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

The family requests expressions of sympathy as donations to the Rotary Club of Clearwater Endowment Fund (P.O. Box 822, Clearwater, Florida, 33757).