HEIKKINEN, RALPH J.
Ralph J. Heikkinen, passed away February 21, 2014 at Borgess Medical Center after a lengthy battle with medical issues. He is survived by his loving daughters, Catherine Vogt and Kristen Blumke (and five grandchildren) and siblings, Margaret Parisen, Linda Heikkinen, and James Heikkinen. Ralph was devoted to the University of Michigan, and was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. He graduated in 1966, then received his law degree from Wayne State University and practiced law in Michigan, Texas, and the US Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. Later he worked in fund development for Western Michigan University and Southern Illinois University. He was a man who enjoyed laughter, reading, politics, and will be greatly missed by his long friends Bill Halbert and Robert and Pam Guenzel. A memorial service will be held at First United Methodist Church in Kalamazoo on Tuesday, February 25, 2014, at 11:00am, followed by a luncheon at the church. Memorial gifts may be directed to Friends of the Kalamazoo Public Library, 315 Rose St., Kalamazoo, MI 49007 OR First United Methodist Church, 212 S. Park St., Kalamazoo, MI, 49007 (benefiting the church's Stephen Ministry).
Paul W. Rea Ph. D.
Among many fond memories of Ralph Heikkinen, allow me to share one. In August of 1965, Ralph and I took a road trip to New York. Ralph’s father let us take his new Oldsmobile convertible, and my friend Don Chowaney, then a grad student at NYU, allowed us to throw down sleeping bags on the floor of his apartment on 78th St.
Over five days, the three of us visited the New York World’s Fair, bookstores and clubs in the Village, and the Cloisters, the medieval museum at the north tip of Manhattan. We also took a sightseeing boat trip around the city, noting with dismay the number of dreary tenements.
If this was not a usual list of sights, it did reflect our shared interests in reading, history, and socio-political issues. On the long drives, we talked at length about the new War on Poverty but probably not enough about the escalating Vietnam War, since LBJ was was stepping up bombing of the North. As I recall, Ralph considered himself a Ripon Society Republican; his attitudes on many issues, especially on labor, seemed quite liberal.
We also talked about people, of course; at the time, I was dating Bob Guenzel’s sister Marilyn. We both agreed on what a wonderful, down-to-earth family the Guenzels were—and how impressed we were with our mutual friend Bob’s rapid progress through U of M and into law school there.
With much affection I recall how warm and easy-going Ralph was, how unaffected he was in meeting a variety of people along our way. Although Ralph and I did not stay in touch after he left Michigan and I went off to Ohio State and later on to Colorado, I much regret that we did not. I can still hear his laugh, picture his ready smile, and see that twinkle in his Nordic blue eyes.
~ Paul Rea in Newark, California
Francis H. Whitton Jr.
I first met Ralph Heikkinen in high school. It was the start of a lifelong friendship even though we were a couple of thousand miles apart. I guess you could say we became partners in crime as well as friends. During our high school years, we thought it was great fun to pop a few cans of beer at places like the foot of Altar Road and sometimes in the back parking lots of schools. Needless to say, we were apprehended by the police and hauled off to the police station more than several times. We would be charged with possession of alcoholic beverages because they always caught us before we started drinking. Usually it was Friday night and we would end up in the Grosse Pointe Woods police station (We weren’t 18 so we never saw the inside of a jail cell. When we walked through the door I would say “Hi Mr. Prietz” and he would say “Hi Frank, I’ve already called your father and he’s on his way”. I had a crush on Sharon Prietz all through junior high and high school. Ralph’s father was an All American football player at University of Michigan. More importantly, he was a big time lawyer at GM and he always got us off the hook for our escapades.
Ralph and I both struggled academically during the first two years at the University of Michigan. More drinking and partying and less matriculation. He joined Sig Ep not SAE and I joined Sigma Nu. We both pulled out of the fraternity scene and got an apartment off campus where we grew up and straightened up. Ralph married Mary Lovely in 1967 and I came back and was his best man. It was a huge wedding and filled with people I had never seen before. I chickened out on giving the first toast and Bob Guenzel filled in for me. I thought Ralph’s dad was going to punch me out right in front of everyone.
Unfortunately Ralph struggled with health issues for the last 20 or so years of his life. I continued to stay in contact with him. A couple of years ago my wife and I came back to Michigan and I visited Ralph with Bob and Pam Guenzel. Ralph and I were both in wheelchairs but we had smiles on our faces and a wealth of fond memories of shared experiences. I cried afterwards but not in front of him. I will sorely miss him but I will not forget him. There will always be a place in my heart for Ralph.