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There You'll Be: Ralph René Tribute

3,095 views · Published 10 December 2010 · 5:38 · Indexed 23 October 2026

Channel: Jarrah White · 2010 · People & Blogs

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On this day two years ago, the moon hoax movement lost a valued member and dear friend. Ralph René and I often spoke over the phone and sent each other emails. In one of his last emails, sent in November 2008, Ralph said he was dying. I promptly called him up to check on him. What he meant was that he was in a lot of pain from his arthritis, which the doctors refused to perform surgery on due to that fact that he couldn't pass a pre-operation stress test "that an Olympic athlete with a sprained ankle couldn't pass, let alone a man on a walker." He was getting old and knew his time would soon come. Last thing I said to him was "Ralph, this may sound like a stupid question, but how much longer do you think you have left?" and his exact reply was, "As long as I can hold out.".

That conversation was on November 30th. Just over a week later on December 8th, Ralph and his girlfriend were in a terrible car accident in which their van rolled. Both survived, but were seriously injured. The crash worsened Ralph's regular hip pain to the point he became an insomniac. On the morning of December 10th, Ralph asked his girlfriend to go home early. The next day his neighbor found his body, his will and a box of goodbye postcards that he had prepared. Even though Ralph had stated that he was not suicidal, it has become clear now that even the non-suicidal have their limits. When one has been denied health care and now the pain costs them their sleep, there appears to be only one way to end the suffering. When someone reaches that point it is not suicide, it's relief through release.

We wish to dedicate this video to our dear friend Ralph.

Ralph Earnest Cascarelli René
August 22nd 1933 - December 10th 2008
YOU WERE A REALLY USEFUL ENGINEER
(SELF TAUGHT)

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