In addition to playing baseball and being on track, he was named "All State" for the high school football team. He studied welding in a vocational school in Baltimore, Maryland, after graduating from high school. He started working for Bethlehem Steel Company right away, constructing 'Liberty' ships for the Second World War.
In December 15, 1942, Ralph joined the US Navy, where he remained until December 1946. In addition to serving in the Mediterranean Sea around the African coast and the southern coast of France, he was assigned to Normandy and Omaha Beachheads in France. Three times in thirteen days, his brother Charles Warren was in the same vicinity aboard a mine sweeper, and their vessels were close enough to make touch with one another in a normal discussion. He received the purple heart and the Distinguished Service Medal.
After he was discharged, Ralph married Helen Tomaska and began focusing his career on heavy construction. He built bridges and three locks on the Monongahela River between Morgantown and Pittsburgh. He also worked at a hydroelectric plant at New Martinsville, Wetzel County, West Virginia, along the Ohio River.
His love of fishing and hunting was his favorite pastime. Ralph had triple bypass heart surgery in 1981 after which he retired. He could be found enjoying the family mountain and cabin called "The Shanty" mowing the fields around his grandfather, Ralph Spencer Christopher's homestead.
Ralph passed away on July 20, 1990 at the age of sixty-seven.
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