- Date Of Birth: October 15, 1915
- Date Of Death: March 16, 2014
- State: Connecticut
Ralph Davis Steadham, Sr., 98, Middletown died peacefully on March 16th at Middlesex Hospital. Fittingly, he passed away on Sunday morning, the Lord’s Day. Even in his final months as his health failed, Ralph praised God and Jesus for all the blessings bestowed upon him.
‘Big Ralph’ was born in McCullough, Alabama on October 15, 1915 to the late Edward Steadham and Callie Lorena Stafford Steadham, and lived in Middletown for the past 69 years. He was predeceased in 2002 by his beloved wife of 58 years, Grace (Talevi) Steadham. They were an eclectic but endearing pairing of a Baptist farm boy, a southern gentleman, and a spirited Italian Catholic girl from Middletown’s North End. They adored one another and dedicated their entire lives to their five children and nine grandchildren, all of whom loved Grace and Ralph beyond words.
Ralph graduated from Robertsdale High School, where he was co-captain of the football team and played for the basketball team that won the region and advanced to the state tournament in Tuscaloosa in 1934. In 2008 he was inducted in to the Robertsdale High School Athletic Hall of Fame. Soon after joining the Coast Guard in 1940, he was stationed in Connecticut. He met Grace in Québec City by chance on the steps of the Shrine of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré. Shortly thereafter he was hitching rides in his Coast Guard uniform from New London to Bridge Street in Middletown to court his future bride and her large, boisterous, loving Italian family, who immediately embraced the handsome young sailor as one of their own.
Grace and Ralph married on October 21, 1944. The war sent them to Oakland, CA for their first year of marriage and Ralph was offshore Japan preparing for the invasion when the atomic bomb dropped in 1945. Ralph achieved the rank of Chief Petty Officer, was honorably discharged in 1946 and came back to Middletown to start his family. He was a machinist by trade and worked 25 years as Watch Engineer at Pratt & Whitney Middletown. He was a Master Mason Scottish Rite 32nd degree at the Valley of Hartford and member of the St. John’s Lodge #2 AFAM in Middletown. As a Sphinx Shriner, he was a member of the Circus Associates and Hospital Transportation Unit. He was a member of the American Legion. Unofficially, Ralph was Connecticut’s oldest living and most dedicated Alabama football fan. His passion dates back to the Crimson Tide’s first Rose Bowl in January 1926. Later he followed the on-field exploits of a Crimson Tide end by the name of Paul W. Bryant — later known as Bear Bryant, the legendary Alabama coach.
Ralph loved gardening, reading, politics and working through trigonometry problems. For over sixty years, he had a keen interest in genealogy and traced part of his family tree back to Swedish immigrants who first settled in Delaware in 1638. He was the oldest living member of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians (Alabama) and very proud of his Native American heritage. An opened Bible was never far from his reach. Like others from the Greatest Generation who survived the Depression and won World War II, he loved his country profoundly. He had a legendary appetite – whether it was his taste for collard greens and a good piece of beef nurtured as a boy in rural Alabama, or the glorious Italian dishes that later came from Grace’s kitchen.
Ralph is survived by his son, Ralph D. Steadham, Jr. and wife, Karen Schmieder, of Haddam; daughter, Janice S. D’Amico and husband, Salvatore D’Amico, of Hermosa Beach, CA; daughter, Virginia O’Brien and her husband, Denis O’Brien, of Middletown; son, Arnold P. Steadham of Middletown; and son, Edward P. Steadham, and his wife, Suzanne, of Shelton; grandsons, Denis O’Brien and wife , Marzy, of Cromwell; Evan O’Brien and fiancé, Sarah Papale, of Wethersfield, and Scott O’Brien of Colchester; grandsons, Michael D’Amico of Middletown, Stephen D’Amico of Hermosa Beach, CA, and Brendan D’Amico of Hermosa Beach, CA; and granddaughters, Kathryn Steadham and fiancé, Steven Woltornist, Elizabeth Steadham and Caroline Steadham, all of Shelton; and great grandchildren, Brady and Karina O’Brien of Cromwell. Other survivors include three brothers, Roy Steadham of Robertsdale, AL, Kenneth Steadham of Tampa, FL, and Robert Oliver Steadham of Valrico, FL. In addition to his parents, he was predeceased by brothers, John Victor Steadham, Edleigh Steadham, Bertram Steadham, James Clinton Steadham, and sisters, Mary Loree Corte, Evelyn Lucille Gulledge and Vivian Frizzell, all of Alabama.
