Ralph S. Havener, Jr, 98, a WWII veteran, part of The Greatest Generation, died peacefully at home, on June 2, 2024, in Boone County with his wife, Mickey, at his bedside. A memorial celebration of his life will be held Saturday, July 20, at Broadway Christian Church, 2601 W. Broadway, at 11 a.m. Rev. David Shirey will officiate. A visitation will begin at 10 a.m. A private inurnment was held for family on June 2, 2024, at Memorial Park Cemetery in Columbia.
Ralph was born on Halloween, October 31, 1925, to Ralph Samuel and Leona Ida Anderson Havener in Moline, IL. His early childhood was marked with sadness. His parents divorced when he was five years old, in an era when children of divorce were ridiculed and mistreated. Ralph often spoke of spending his first four years of school in the principal’s office. He, his mother and his baby brother, Bobby, moved from Evanston, IL back to Moline to be close to his grandparents. Within 2 years, Bobby ran between two cars into the street and was hit and killed. It was a loss Ralph carried with him to his death. In January 1944, he graduated from Moline High School, where he played center on the football team and participated in the Army Air Corps Cadets program.
Ralph enlisted in the Army Air Corps at Fort Sheridan, IL, with three of his high school buddies the week they graduated. Within a week, he was on a train to an unknown destination, which turned out to be a makeshift boot camp in a hotel on Miami Beach, FL. He fell in love with the beaches and ocean air.
After basic training, Ralph trained to be a blister gunner on a B-29, the Flying Fortress. He was privileged to fly around the world with the 20th Air Force Hell Birds. He landed to refuel on every continent but Antarctica. He served in India, Burma, China and ultimately, on the island of Tinian in the Northern Mariannas. He received several medals, including the Oak Leaf Cluster for disabling a Japanese battleship. Twenty missions over Japan; and twenty-four months later, Ralph’s combat points allowed him to be discharged in time for Christmas, 1945.
After the war, with the passage of the GI Bill, Ralph returned to the University of Miami with his childhood friend, Larry Petit. Ralph and Larry ran a lawn business while in Miami. After graduation, he moved to Madison Wisconsin to work on graduate degrees in history, specifically American Civil War History, at the University of Wisconsin. While there, he worked in the UW-M and Wisconsin state Archives and received specialized training in archives and records management at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.
He taught history at Illinois Western University and Black Hawk College in Moline, Illinois. He worked as an archivist for the state of Illinois; he completed his career as the first Director of Archives for the University of Mo system (1969-1990). After retiring, Ralph substituted in Callaway County, Hallsville and Columbia Public Schools where he was very popular with elementary students for stories of his pet alligator, Pete, his greatest childhood joy. Long after he stopped teaching children, his former students would bring their mothers to meet him when they would see him at the mall or grocery store.
He was married in 1955, to his high school sweetheart, Virginia L. Nordstrom, in Moline, Il. They had three daughters, Adele, Julie and Valerie; and were married for 17 years before her untimely death. He later married Michael (Mickey) Dickerson Davis at Missouri United Methodist Church in Columbia. They celebrated their 51st wedding anniversary earlier this year.
Ralph was baptized as an infant and completed confirmation classes before joining Calvary Lutheran Church in Moline. He considered his mother the most influential person in his life because she took him to church, introduced him to the faith and encouraged him to complete 2 years of confirmation classes at the Calvary Lutheran Church in Moline. At the time of his death, Ralph was a member of Broadway Christian Church and an associate member of Missouri United Methodist Church in Columbia.
Other influential persons in Ralph’s life were historian William Hesseltine, his major professor at UW-M; Jess Bell, Wisconsin state archivist; and LaMont Hultgren, his football coach at John Deere Jr High School.
Ralph was a dedicated husband and father and an amazing storyteller. He was a committed pastor’s spouse, teaching Sunday School at Olivet Christian Church, ringing church bells, sweeping floors, and mowing church yards. He went on several mission trips with church youth groups. He was passionate about family, babies, reading, swimming, American Civil War history, bow ties, Miami, pecan pie and ice cream. He slept with a picture of U.S Grant over his bed.
The experiences that he felt most influenced him were his military service (Jan 1944-Dec 1945); his graduate school years; and the several illnesses and challenges of his loved ones, especially, the deaths of Bobby, Virginia and Valerie.
Ralph is survived by his wife, Rev. Mickey Havener; his daughters, Adele Havener Nickolaus (David), Julie Havener Deters (Robin); son-in-law, Derek Kewley; his stepchildren, Michelle Davis Hinshaw (Paul), James R. Davis, II, (Rev. Laura Hudson) of Monroe, GA; and eleven grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his parents, his stepfather, Willard Klingberg; his first wife, Virginia Havener; infant daughter, Sonja; baby brother, Robert Frank Havener; youngest daughter, Valerie L. Havener Hess Kewley; and his schoolmates and lifelong friends, Larry Petit, Joseph Mortier and Don Peterson.
The family wishes to thank the following: Rev. David Shirey, Pastor Terry Overfelt, Pastor John de Laport, Chaplain Amy Leeper Bowers, Hospice Compassus, CNA Madysen Cluck, and friends at Broadway Christian and Missouri United Methodist Churches.
Memorial contributions may be made to Mobility Worldwide at https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/MobilityWorldwideMOColumbia or Rocheport Christian Church located at Second & Central, Rocheport Missouri, 65269.
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