Ralph Laverne Hinton

Ralph LaVerne Hinton of Cambridge passed away Sunday, June 5, 2016 at the Cambridge Manor, Cambridge. Nebraska. He was 101 years old.

Ralph was born to Albert and Mary Bernice (Blake) Hinton on May 19, 1915 in a sod house on his paternal grandfathers homestead about three miles WSE of Stockville, Frontier County, Nebraska. It was the same house in which his father was born and in which his father and mother were married. Even though it was late in May, the ground was white with snow. While still a toddler, Ralph moved with his parents to a new, small, frame, house about one mile southeast on another quarter section of his grandfathers land. Here Ralph and his siblings grew to adulthood.

Ralph attended all eight years all elementary school at the Rising Sun Rural School, District 31 in Frontier County. He then attended four years at Stockville Rural High School, graduating in 1933. That fall he enrolled in the Nebraska State Teachers College at Kearney, Nebraska, where he qualified himself to teach in the rural schools of Nebraska. He taught for seven years in Frontier County, including Walnut Hill, District 35; Rising Sun, District 31; South Brushy, District 108; Champion (North of Freedom), District 33; and North Star, District 29. He then taught grades 5-8 at Dickens for two years and grades 5-8 at Bloomington for one year. He was then called to be Superintendent of the Oshkosh Public School at Oshkosh, Nebraska, where he remained for four years.

Between terms of school, Ralph often attended summer school in Kearney to renew his teaching certificates and earn credits toward his college degree. After four years in Oshkosh, Ralph took a year off from teaching and attended his senior year at the college in Kearney. He was graduated from college in 1949 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Secondary Education and qualified to be a High School Administrator and to be a teacher in the fields of English, Social Studies, and Mathematics.

After graduation from college, Ralph was employed by the Holdrege Public Schools as an Elementary Principle and 6th grade teacher. After a couple of years he was asked to retain his Elementary Principalship, but was invited to give up his classroom teaching duties and accept the position Elementary Education Association. He also was invited to accept membership in a National Honorary Education Fraternity.In the summer of 1952, Ralph enrolled in graduate school at the University of Lincoln to pursue a Masters Degree in Elementary Education. During the next two summers, he completed all of the course work for the Masters Degree.

After eight years in the Holdrege School System, Ralph moved to Kansas City, Missouri. There he was employed as an auditor and to set up an inventory control system for a wholesale plumbing and heating company. After 13 months, he was employed as a mens clothing salesman by the Jones Store Company, one of approximately 100 department stores scattered over the entire United States, all belonging to Mercantile Stores Company, Inc. Ralph excelled as a salesman of mens suits, receiving several awards for top volume sales among the entire chain of Mercantile Stores. Ralph remained in this same position for 23 years, one year longer than he had taught school.

At the age of 12, Ralph gave his heart to Christ at a Rose Evangelistic meeting in Curtis, Nebraska. He joined the First Congregational Church in Stockville and was baptized there. At a much later date, he was baptized by immersion at the Church of Christ in McCook, Nebraska. Ralph was a Congregationalist all his life. Besides being a member of the Stockville Church for many years, he was a member for many years each of the Old Historical First Congregational Church of Kansas City, Missouri and the Congregational United Church of Christ in Cambridge, Nebraska. During his many years of membership, he held every office in the Congregational Church with the exception of church clerk. During his many years of going to school and teaching school, Ralph often found himself in a community where there was no Congregational Church. But Ralph was always able to find a church home among churches of other faiths, including, Methodist, Christian (Disciples of Christ), Baptist, Church of the Brethren, Mennonite, Nazarene, and Presbyterian.

For many years, Ralph was a member of both Frontier County Historical Society and the Nebraska State Historical Society.In 2005, Ralph was presented a 50-year membership pin and plaque in recognition of his 50-year affiliation with the Order of United Commercial Travelers of America.

Having bought a home in Cambridge, Nebraska, he moved there in April 1986, where he lived for 22 years before moving with his brother and sister to the Heritage Plaza Retirement Village in Cambridge in November of 2007.

Ralph was proceeded in death by his parents; one brother, Dean Hinton; one sister, Zelda Hinton Maret and her husband, Merle; one brother-in-law, Ray Swanson; and one great-great-nephew, Camron Maret.

Ralph is survived by his brother, Alfred Hinton of Cambridge; four nieces, Bernita Hinton Owens and husband, John, of Stockville; Lorraine Hinton Herrick of Champion; Marlene Maret Mustion of Indianola; Margene Maret Hayes and husband, Randy, of Imperial; four nephews, LaVerne Maret and wife, Gene, of Wilsonville; Deloit Hinton and wife, Carol, of Pleasanton, CA; Everett Hinton and wife, Ann, of Hastings; Lawrence Hinton and wife, Tamara, of North Platte; one sister-in-law, Donna Swanson, also of North Platte and a host of relatives and friends.

Services Visitation Wednesday June 8, 2016 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM Lockenour-Jones Mortuary 604 Penn St. Cambridge, NE 69022 Funeral Service Thursday June 9, 2016 10:30 AM Stockville Congregational Church Stockville, NE