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RALPH STEYER, 88
Services for Ralph Steyer, 88 of Blair who died March 29, 1996 at Memorial Community Hospital will be 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 2 at First Methodist Church in Blair. Burial will be in the Fort Calhoun Cemetery.
Ralph Willard Steyer was born May 23, 1907 on a farm in southern Washington County to William and Mary Steyer, the second of five surviving children. He grew up on farms outside Fort Calhoun and Omaha, where the family raised vegetables which they took to market daily in Omaha in addition to conventional farm crops.
He attended Central High School in Omaha. His formal schooling stopped in 10th grade when he developed severe headaches, related to a near fatal fall from a silo and his parents were told to take him out of school.
His self-education process, with special interests in history, literature, and horticulture continued throughout his life.
He worked on the family farm as a teen and young adult. In 1929, he was hired to deliver a boat load of mules to the British Army in India and he spent the next several months delivering mules.
In the early 1930s, he went to work for the Farm Security Administration (now Farmer’s Home Administration). He served as district manager for the organization in various locations throughout eastern and central Nebraska.
He married Frances Sallman, who had come to Fort Calhoun to teach school on August 20, 1937 at her parents’ home in St. Paul, Nebraska.
In 1948, he resigned from the Farm Security Administration and the family moved to Blair. He then was a territorial representative for Cargill Seed company until the early 1962 when he went to work as a landscape designer affiliated with Marshall Nurseries.
He retired in the mid-1970s, but continued to encourage the development and planting of landscaping materials.
He was a longtime member of the Blair Park Board. He served as Blair City Forester for many years and was the driving force behind the creation of the Blair Community Arboretum. He designed the layout and supervised the planting of thousands of trees and shrubs through the Blair Parks system.
He was also a founder and longtime supporter of the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum.
He was awarded the American Horticultural Society Individual award for urban beautification at a national meeting in San Francisco in 1986. In 1984, he was awarded the Lawrence Emersen Award by the National Arbor Foundation. The Blair Area Chamber of Commerce presented him with its Distinguished Service Award in 1984 and in 1980 Dan College honored him with its College Community Service Award.
He was a member of First Methodist Church of Blair, the Blair Rose Society, Solomon Masonic Lodge No. 10 and the Blair Kiwanis Club.
He was preceded in death by a son, Bill.
He is survived by a wife, Frances; a daughter, Kathy of Blair; a daughter and son-in-law, Dorothy and Russ Stone of Los Angeles, California; a son and daughter-in-law, Phil and Kate of Anchorage, Alaska; two grandchildren, Jennifer Stone of Los Angeles and Alex Steyer of Anchorage; a sister, Dolly Lorentzen of Fort Calhoun and many nieces and nephews.
In lieu of floweres, the family suggests persons interested in making a memorial contribution send a check to the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum, P.O. Box 830715, UNL, Lincoln, NE 68503-0715.
Sievers-Sprick Funeral Home in Fort Calhoun is in charge of arrangements.
~~~ Obituary courtesy of the Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair Public Library at Blair, Nebraska.~~~
FindaGrave memorial # # 18176731
Note: the following is from the City of Blair website
Steyer Park
Ralph Steyer Park was established in 1951. Steyer Park is home to the municipal swimming pool and skateboard park. The park has one shelter with a grill and an electric outlet and a second shelter with a grill. The park also has two playgrounds, freestanding picnic tables, benches and restrooms. There are two tables with checkerboards by the swimming pool. A feature of this park is its many unusual trees, most of them planted by Ralph Steyer, city forester for many years. Steyer was widely known for his knowledge and love of trees, and the park is named in his honor. This park is part of the Blair Community Arboretum and the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum.
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