Ralph Enzler
November 15, 1927 – June 5, 2022
Ralph Lewis Enzler passed away on June 5, 2022, at the blessed age of 94.
Ralph was born on Nov. 15, 1927, at the family homestead in Aladdin Washington. Ralph was the youngest of four children and spent his childhood in Aladdin Washington and various towns in Oregon. Ralph and his parents moved to Moses Lake in 1945. Ralph attended Moses Lake High School his junior and senior years, and graduated in 1947, a senior class of 23 students! Ralph married his high school sweetheart, Pat Burress, on Sept. 30, 1947. The couple welcomed three children into their family: Larry, Carol and Jerry.
Ralph never had idle hands, and worked as hard as his father as of age 14. In 1950, Ralph co-owned Vista Service Phillips 66, the first service station on the north side of the lake (corner of Stratford and Valley Roads), until selling in 1952. Then he developed a farm unit near Wheeler in his early 20s, but quickly tired from working with acreage that had previously only grown sagebrush. In late 1955, he emerged as a salesman, first selling for the Moses Lake Ford dealership. Then a year later, he began his lifelong career as an insurance agent with Prudential.
In 1963 Pat and Ralph divorced. About a year later, Ralph met and married Jeanette Ehlert on June 12, 1964, and they had three children: Jeff, Jill and Jon. Other than a few early years in the Tri-Cities, they happily raised their children in Moses Lake. They lived on a small acreage on Road M Southeast from 1972 to 2004. Ralph maintained nine acres of park-like yard, orchards, pastures and gardens impeccably. Additionally, he managed to follow the kids’ sports and school activities, and maintained his flourishing sales and/or management business for decades. The family especially loved swimming in the backyard canal in the summers (in the good ol’ days when you didn’t get fined)!
Ralph retired at age 60 after 32 years with Prudential, qualifying for all annual conference award vacation trips. Ralph and Jeanette enjoyed over 30 years of retired companionship. They kept their home base in Moses Lake, but took many trips around the nation; camping, fishing and sightseeing and eventually spent many decades snowbirding near Palm Springs. Ralph was a very social and friendly person, and was continually making friends, playing cards and telling jokes. Ralph trusted in God, and attended the Moses Lake Catholic Church for a great number of years. Ralph was a hardworking and reliant provider, a dependable source of pragmatic wisdom and optimistic encouragement, a loving and devoted father, a faithful husband, and a fun-loving grandpa to his eventual five grandkids and 11 greats. He loved giving the great grandkids $2 bills at family reunions depending on how many days they were good!
Post-retirement Ralph also enjoyed watching his favorite local teams, something he simply couldn’t make time to do in busier times. We’re sad he won’t see his Mariners break their playoff drought or his Zags win a basketball national championship. He won’t see his Seahawks without Russell Wilson. Mostly, we’re sad we won’t be able to hear his voice or feel his embrace., but we can still talk to him if we aim our head to the heavens and just tell him what’s in our heart. We can also feel happy that he’s no longer restricted by his limited, broken earthly body.
Ralph endured the heartbreak of losing two children, being preceded in death by his beloved son Jerry Enzler in 1975, and his precious Jill in 2006. He also faced the recent heart-wrenching loss of his daughter-in-law, Tracey Schenck Enzler, in November 2021 and a granddaughter, Jaylynn Bonner, in February 2021. Lastly, he was preceded in death by his parents Gertrude (Dronkers) and Arthur Enzler, son-in-law David Tusberg and all of his siblings: Glenn Enlzer, Frank Enzler and Hazel Morlan. He is survived by his sweetheart of 58 years Jeanette Enzler of Moses Lake; children Larry Enzler of Spokane Valley, Washington, Carol Tusberg of Moses Lake, Washington, Jeff Enzler (Kamelia) of Bellevue, Washington and Jon Enzler of Seven Bays, Washington; grandchildren Trisha (David) Truett Cole, Taylor (Catarina) Truett, Kayloni (Paul) Bonner, Shayla (Jake) Anderson and Noah Enzler; and nine great-grandkids.
Ralph had both quality of life and quantity of years, and continually thanked God for all his blessings. Revelation 21:4
A family celebration of life is planned at a later date.
