Ralph Joseph Carr, born October 31, 1947, in Linz Austria to William Robert Carr & Herta Teresa Mindel, passed into glory on January 19, 2022. Ralph was preceded in death by his parents, his wife of 45 years, Edie, and his younger brothers, Stephen and James. Ralph is survived by his children, Patti, Jennifer, and Michael. He has 6 grandchildren, Christopher, Nicholas, Ashleigh, Mary, Hannah, and Ryan. He also has 5 great grandchildren, Elijah, Finnley, Isabelle, Coraline, and Tyson. Ralph grew up as an Army brat until he was in high school. He graduated from Kimball High School in southern Dallas. He served 2 tours in Vietnam with the Airforce. He spent the next 39 years with the Dallas Police Department. During his work career, he was a Ranger and Paratrooper with the Army National Guard. We would go to watch him jump. We always knew it was him by the Tarzan yell he would let go as he leapt. At the same time that he was a weekend warrior, Ralph graduated from Abilene Christian University with a Bachelor of Science. Dad always worked hard. He would set goals and accomplish them. Dad's primary goal was to make a better life for his family. He accomplished that! Dad would often tell me that at night before he slept, he would always thank God for his blessings; for his family, for his life, just whatever came to mind. Ralph loved being a Police Office, most days. He said that as long as he could enjoy the people and not become bitter, he wanted to continue. Dad loved people, loved talking to them. He spent a lot of time with the older classes of South MacArthur, even going to mow lawns of some if they weren't able to. Dad always had stories to tell. Some hilarious, mostly about ridiculous perpetrators and their ideocracy. Dad was brave. He chose to protect not only the citizens, but his brethren on the force. And he loved practical jokes, especially ones with bowling balls and the bed of a pickup truck or golf balls in thermoses. When Ralph was up to something, he always had a twinkle in his eyes. He rarely smiled for pictures. We had to learn to take it early because if you said "3", the smile would disappear. Sometimes he was such a stinker . . .doing it on purpose. He loved mom and took great care of her when she became ill. Dad was everyman . . . he was a hero to us all! This past year held new challenges for Dad health wise with a partial amputation of a foot. It was followed by related illnesses that led to a few hospitalizations, rehab, etc. We were finally at a point that he was able to return home to his family. Our family rallied around to care for him and he was getting stronger every day! Although it has been quite a shock to all of us, I am confident he marched straight through those gates that morning, waiting to be reunited with Mom and the rest of the family. I Thessalonians 4:13 says, "We want you to know what will happen to those believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope." We still mourn. We still miss them. We still long for their presence here with us. BUT our hope, our faith, our joy, is that we will see them again. The only unfair thing about that is for them it is the blinking of an eye . . . but for us it's a bit longer. That's the hope I hold onto, as we navigate this new reality for us. I don't think I every really thought about Dad leaving us. I thought he'd stay forever, honestly. I never even entertained a contingency plan of him leaving us. That's what he did. He was satisfied with his life and faced with the glory and Mom, he chose the only way he should have. He chose home.