HOME        SEARCH.


1914 Ralph Elliot Axtell

Born: Mar. 29, 1914 in Bainbridge, Chenango County, New York

Died: Oct. 17, 1992 at Amherst, Massachusetts

He was buried Oct. 21, 1992 at Greenlawn Cemetery, Bainbridge NY.


His father was 1867 Charles Elliot Axtell.

His mother was 1877 Olive J. Whitaker.


He was married May 10, 1936 to Leta Mae Sherman.

They had four children:

  Yvonne Alice Axtell   born Oct. 12, 1944 in Biloxi, Miss.
  Betty Jean Axtell     born Nov. 30, 1946 in Bainbridge, NY
  Mary Louise Axtell    born Aug. 31, 1951 in Bainbridge, NY
  Carol Ann Axtell      born Apr.  3, 1955 in Bainbridge, NY
  
In early 1942 Ralph was waiting to be drafted but then decided
to enlist with a group of his friends from Bainbridge; he was
sent to Fort Niagara, NY on Apr. 23, 1942; from there he was
transferred to Keesler Army Air Base in Biloxi, Mississippi.
Leta joined him there somtime in 1943, exact date unknown.

In 1944 Ralph was still serving in the Army Air Corps at Keesler
Army Base near Biloxi, MS.

--Info from family members; research by Millie Lockwood.

Our cousin Wilford told us this story about Ralph:

One day Ralph and Leta were visiting at the Sherman homestead 
for the holidays.  It was very cold at the time and there was 
a lot of snow on the ground.  Ralph decided that he was going 
to ski down the hill behind the house, using old-fashioned skis 
with only a step-in type toe binding and a leather strap to 
hold them onto the feet.  

He hiked up the hill (about 300 yards), and opened the stock 
gate in the fence so he could ski through it.  The driveway 
behind the house was not plowed, but the main road below the 
house was plowed...straight down the hill came Ralph, going so 
fast it made his eyes water; through the fence, across the 
driveway, between the house and barn...until he hit the main road...
at which point the skis stopped, but he did not...thus he became 
airborne, and flew clear across the road and the ditch beyond it,
and landed just short of the tree line!  When he came back to 
the house, there were two lines of ice where the tears had 
frozen to his face...amazingly, he was unhurt, but I don't 
believe he ever tried that one again!

NOTE: this would have been in the late 1930's.


 
I think we can infer from this story that Ralph was a bit of a 
daredevil!

At right is a photo of Ralph in the late 1980's: