Genevieve R (Barrows) Ralph - , RI

(10/22/13) Coventry - Genevieve R. Ralph, 86, died peacefully at home on October 18, 2013. She was a selfless woman who enjoyed a tremendously positive outlook on life right to the end. She was the widow of the late Kenneth L. Ralph, who predeceased her in 1974, and daughter of the late Anna Dorothea (Muddiman) Barrows Sullivan and Everett Barrows. Born in Providence, she resided in Coventry for the last 46 years. A 1948 graduate of Roger Williams General Hospital School of Nursing, Genevieve had a rewarding career as a registered nurse beginning in obstetrics nursing at Roger Williams and Miriam Hospital, and ending as the head nurse of the extended cardiac care unit (ECCU) of Kent County Memorial Hospital, from which she retired in 1993, after 25 years of service. She was a strong advocate for her patients and staff alike on ECCU, and earned the title “The General,” used with reverence, by the physicians whose patients were on her floor. Genevieve’s leadership extended to her volunteer work as well. In 1984, she began training with the New England Rural Leadership Program (NERL), which sought to develop individual and group leadership skills to promote public issue problem solving. After completing the program in 1986, she continued to work with NERL focusing on motivating senior citizens to take responsibility for solving the problems facing them in society and participating in the political changes needed to improve their lives. In 1993, she was selected by Senator Claiborne Pell to be his senior citizen intern in Washington, DC. She also worked to launch the Aging 2000 Program in RI, a bottom-up, grassroots pilot program to reform health care for the older people of RI. Genevieve was very active for the last 20 years of her life with Hamilton House, a learning exchange in Providence for older persons, serving as its vice president for 2 years, and president for 3 years. At Hamilton House she took her first computer classes, and wrote her first short story in a creative writing class. She continued with the writing group, and the short stories she wrote over the next 15 years became the basis for her book, Tender Words, published in 2013, by Mary C. Sullivan. Genevieve is survived by her two children: Patricia Ralph Fowler and her husband Gordon of Bryn Mawr, PA and New Canaan, CT, and James Kenneth Ralph of Cranston. She was a loving grandmother of 4 grandchildren: Genevieve and Gordon “Michael” Fowler, and Chelsea and Brooke Ralph. Visitation will be held Friday, October 25, 2013 from 4-7pm at Carpenter-Jenks Funeral Home & Crematory, 659 East Greenwich Ave, West Warwick. A memorial service of Christian burial will be celebrated at 10am on Saturday, October 26 at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, 50 Orchard Ave., Providence. Burial will follow at Riverside Cemetery, Pawtucket. Following the burial, family and friends are invited to a reception at the Hope Club, 6 Benevolent St., Providence. In lieu of flowers donations may be made in Genevieve’s memory to Hamilton House, 276 Angell St., Providence, RI 02906, or Home & Hospice Care of RI, 1085 North Main St., Providence, RI 02904. Information and condolences at carpenterjenks.com.