Meet Ralph

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Catoosa County

Whitfield County

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I grew up on a cattle farm in Floyd County, just outside Rome, Georgia. I lived there with the exception of my time as a student at UGA until I moved to Ringgold in 1990. My father was a small business man who also tried raising cattle. My mother was a homemaker and taught drama at Berry College part-time. She was diagnosed with cancer when I was just six months old and fought the disease until I was eleven. Her courage and dignity in battling cancer throughout my childhood taught me my philosophy of life. First, treat all people with dignity and respect, and never, ever give up.

Watching my father struggle to pay the staggering medical bills while making sure that each of his four children had an opportunity to attend college, also taught me a lesson about responsibility to others and the meaning of perseverance. My father was a lifelong Republican; I often wonder what he would think of the modern GOP with its deficit spending and dependence on big corporations.

I am the youngest of four siblings. My oldest brother is a drama teacher in Miami, Florida; my sister works for The Hartford Insurance Corporation in Hartford, Connecticut, and my other brother is an architect in Rome, Georgia.

After high school, I attended the University of Georgia, but could not decide on a plan for life, so I dropped out and worked a construction job for a tile company. There I learned the value of hard work and skill outside a classroom; I still occasionally do tile jobs for friends. While working, I decided to become a teacher and enrolled at Shorter College in Rome where I earned a degree in education. I began teaching in 1976 and have not stopped since.

Thanks to the mentoring of many fine veteran teachers and principals, I continued my education receiving a Masters in Education degree in 1982 from West Georgia State College and a Specialist in Education in 1991. In 1990, Teresa and I were married and I moved to Ringgold and to Whitfield County Schools. Teresa, a native of Chickamauga, retired last year after 31 years of teaching, 30 at Cloud Springs Elementary in Catoosa County.

We share three sons: Hunter is 29 and is a contractor in Missoula, Montana. Sam, 25, is a doctoral student at Yale University in the religion department, and Caleb who is 22 is a student at the University of Georgia. Of course, we hope to be grandparents, but no luck yet.

Early on in my teaching career I became active in my teacher’s association, the Georgia Association of Educators (GAE), an organization of more than 40,000 members. I rose up in leadership positions from serving as my local’s president, to state committees, to the Governing Board, to state officer, to President of GAE from 2000 to 2002. During my term as president, I spoke across the state on educational issues, gave hundreds of media interviews, and wrote extensively on education reform in Georgia. In addition, I served as the chief spokesperson for GAE before the State Board of Education and The Georgia General Assembly on such issues as testing, curriculum, attracting and retaining teachers, funding, and retirement. I was appointed in 2002 by Governor Barnes to serve on the advisory panel looking at Venture Capital investment in the Teacher Retirement System. I returned to the classroom in 2002 at Eastbrook Middle School in Dalton where I teach language arts and social studies. I also coach the school’s championship soccer team. From 2004 to 2007 I served on GAE’s political action committee and from 2003 to 2008 on GAE’s Resolutions Committee.

Teresa has also been active in GAE, serving as president of the Catoosa Education Association, GAE’s Governing Board and Executive Committee, and on GAE’s Political Action Committee. She is currently Chair of GAE’s Legislative Committee. We share many interests including our dogs Bailey and Boone, reading, snorkeling and travel. I also like to cook on my Big Green Egg and coaching soccer. I am a life long Episcopalian, and we attend St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Dalton.

I have often talked, written and spoken about Georgia’s promise. Now I am running for office to try to put those words into action for change. I am a combination of all the people in my life. I learned passion from my mother, honor from my father, compassion from my first grade teacher Mrs. Barton, tenacity from my soccer coaches, and the dignity of work from the people with whom I worked construction. Countless people have helped me throughout life, and now I hope to repay the loan.

I am running as a Democrat, not because I believe Democrats have all the answers, they don’t, but because I believe the Democratic Party best represents the hard working people of Georgia. We are the teachers, the small business owners, the law enforcement officers, the firemen, the factory workers, the everyday people who have no one else standing up for us. We don’t have the million dollar lobbyists or the paid guns that big corporations and big party machines have at their disposal. But, we do have each other and we believe in the American Dream – that our children will have the opportunity for a better life than we had. Together we can help them live that dream. But, we have work to do.

Ralph

Meet Ralph