| |
| |
|
|
R E S O L U T I O N
|
|
|
WHEREAS, Residents of San Angelo lost an esteemed physician |
|
|
and civic leader with the passing of Dr. Ralph Raymond Chase on |
|
|
March 16, 2012, at the age of 89; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Born in San Angelo on January 3, 1923, Dr. Chase was |
|
|
the son of Ralph Raymond Chase, Sr., and Hildur Sandberg Chase; he |
|
|
graduated from San Angelo High School and Junior College before |
|
|
earning a bachelor's degree in biology at The University of Texas at |
|
|
Austin in 1943; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, During World War II, he answered his nation's call |
|
|
to duty, enlisting in the U.S. Navy and serving in the Admiralty |
|
|
Islands; following his military service, he earned his medical |
|
|
degree at Northwestern University and served his residency in |
|
|
Chicago, where he met his future wife, Virginia Louise Berg; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Dr. Chase began practicing pediatric medicine at |
|
|
Angelo Community Hospital; in the early 1950s, he was instrumental |
|
|
in carrying out a mass polio immunization program and later |
|
|
coordinated another intensive inoculation effort against |
|
|
diphtheria, tetanus, measles, rubella, and smallpox; with |
|
|
characteristic concern that everyone have access to medical care, |
|
|
he was one of the first to promote the use of physician's assistants |
|
|
in underserved rural areas; named the Texas Pediatrician of the |
|
|
Year in 1978, he also received the American Academy of Pediatrics |
|
|
Citation; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Deeply committed to his community, Dr. Chase was a |
|
|
member of the Tom Green County Historical Society and played a major |
|
|
part in the development of a medical museum at the Fort Concho site; |
|
|
in the 1970s, he helped launch the Roy E. Moon Distinguished |
|
|
Lectureship in Science series and the Angelo Community Hospital |
|
|
Lectureship in the Humanities series, later renamed the Chase |
|
|
Lectureship in the Humanities, at Angelo State University; thanks |
|
|
to his efforts, 11 Nobel Prize winners and numerous other scholars |
|
|
have shared their ideas with the citizens of San Angelo; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Over the years, Dr. Chase received many honors, |
|
|
including the Service to Society Award from the Northwestern |
|
|
University Alumni Association and a distinguished alumnus award |
|
|
from Angelo State University; in 1988, the San Angelo Chamber of |
|
|
Commerce named him the Citizen of the Year, and he was recognized by |
|
|
the mayor and city council with Ralph Chase Day in 1991; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Known to generations of patients as "Uncle Ralphie," |
|
|
this beloved physician worked throughout his life to improve the |
|
|
health and well-being of his fellow Texans, and he contributed to |
|
|
his community through nearly six decades of engaged citizenship; |
|
|
now, therefore, be it |
|
|
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 83rd Texas |
|
|
Legislature hereby pay tribute to the memory of Dr. Ralph Raymond |
|
|
Chase and extend sincere condolences to the members of his family: |
|
|
to his wife of 60 years, Virginia Chase; to his children, Priscilla |
|
|
Griffis and her husband, Don, Julia Kinkel and her husband, Carl, |
|
|
Sallie Helms and her husband, Bill, and John Chase; to his |
|
|
grandchildren, William Griffis and his wife, Leslie, James Griffis |
|
|
and his wife, Lindsay, Abigail Cox and her husband, Jason, John |
|
|
Griffis, and Travis and Chase Helms; to his great-grandchildren, |
|
|
Sarah Cox and Chase Griffis; and to his other relatives and many |
|
|
friends; and, be it further |
|
|
RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be |
|
|
prepared for his family and that when the Texas House of |
|
|
Representatives adjourns this day, it do so in honor of Dr. Ralph |
|
|
Chase. |