Obit: Zimmerman, Ralph T. (1932? - 1956)

Contact: Stan

Email: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Zimmerman, Jacobson, Sperberg

----Source: THORP COURIER (Thorp, Clark County, Wis.) 03/29/1956

Zimmerman, Ralph T. (1932? - 26 MAR 1956)

Ralph T. Zimmer, 23, a former resident of Thorp (Clark Co., Wis.), died early Monday at Madison, where he was a law student at the University of Wisconsin.

Mr. Zimmerman, who suffered from hemophilia, a condition of the blood which prevents clotting, died at Wis. General Hospital where he had undergone surgery on Saturday.  He had received 34 blood transfusions since Friday night when he entered the hospital.  It was reported that following a public plea for donors about 100 persons had offered their blood.

He won several honors in debate and oratory while a member of the Grace Walsh speech team at Wis. state College, Eau Claire.  He is a graduate of the Thorp High School.  Among the more prominent honors are that he represented the Midwest for 2 years at the West Point National Tournament;  he was the Midwest state’s champion on debate and oratory; and won the 1955 Wis. state Oratorical championship.  He was also champion after dinner speaker at the college in Eau Claire for three years in a row.

Included in his campus activities at Eau Claire was holding the office of executive of student government as a junior; president of Kappa Delta Pi, education honor society; a member of Eta Phi, social fraternity.

He had been named in who's Who in American Colleges and Universities.

Ralph was married to Pauline Jacobson of Stanley in December 1954.  She was a registered nurse at the Lutheran hospital where he was a patient on occasions.

Surviving are his wife, his parents, Rev. and Mrs. Martin Zimmerman, El Monte, Calif., a sister, Mrs. Gordon Sperberg, Garden City, L. I., N.Y., and two brothers, Fred and Paul of Milwaukee.

Funeral services were held at 2 p.m. Wednesday at the Epiphany Lutheran Church, Eau Claire, the Rev. F .J. Werth officiating.  Burial was in the North Side Lutheran Cemetery at Stanley.