DR. RALPH P. CEBULLA

Ralph P. Cebulla, 82, passed away on Monday November 2, 2015, surrounded by his family. He was born in 1933 in the Bronx to German immigrant parents Arthur and Maria Cebulla.

His formative years were spent in California with his close-knit family: parents, grandmother, aunts, uncle, sister Mady and cousin Cleo. Ralph always referred to his childhood as “idyllic” – playing with friends on the hills of San Francisco, overlooking the bay. And, during much of World War II when his father was employed helping build the Alaska Highway, Ralph spent entire summers tent-camping in Yosemite with his mother, grandmother, Aunt Madeline and cousin Cleo. When his father returned home, he used the money earned in Alaska to start a plumbing business. Ralph was his primary helper. This left little time for athletics, but Ralph always managed to keep up with his school work, paving the way for life as a scholar. He graduated in 1951 from Palo Alto High School, with an interest in ideas and scholarship inspired by outstanding teachers like Ms. Lois Walsh. He also developed the critical skill of typing which, as he said, “saved my life many times.”

During the Korean War he served in the Army as company clerk in the Honor Guard’s Headquarters and Service Company in Arlington, VA. Through the GI Bill he graduated from San Jose State University where he developed a passion for the field of psychology and also philosophy. Professor Jim McGaugh’s journal club inspired him to look to the Buckeye State for graduate school at The Ohio State University, where he earned a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology. In 1964, he began a 43-year career as a psychology prof at Hiram College, where he did some of the early research on stress and “learned helplessness.” Ralph also had an unrelenting commitment to social justice. He worked with the victims of the Kent State shootings and helped to found an ACLU chapter in Kent. He was active in the Civil Rights Movement and also obtained a federal grant for and directed the Upward Bound program at Hiram College. Teaching, in his story-telling style, was a real passion for him. He worked tirelessly to help his students succeed and become passionate about ideas and critical thinking. To hear of the impact that his teaching made was one of his greatest joys.

He also cherished his many friends and colleagues at Hiram College and served as Faculty Chair for several years. He was most devoted to his family and loved spending time with his children and grandchildren. He also loved gardening, nature, and the outdoors and spent many vacations camping, fishing, and hiking. Like a giant redwood, his loss makes a large gap. He will be sorely missed.

He is survived by his wife Jeanne, daughter Colleen (Ted), son Theo (Heather), his grandchildren Mason and Hallie, his sister Mady (Tom), brother-in-law Mike (Colleen) and several nephews and nieces. The family would like to thank his caring physicians and the Hospice of the Western Reserve.

A Celebration of Life will be held at 2:00 pm Saturday, November 14, 2015 in the Kennedy Center at Hiram College, in conjunction with the Mallory-De Haven-Carlson Funeral Home. If desired, in lieu of flowers, donations may be made in his memory to Hiram College, Office of Development, P.O. Box 67, Hiram, OH 44234 or www.hiram.edu/giving .