Ralph Cobb

A man who will be remembered for his integrity, humor, and lighthearted good nature.

  Ralph Cobb, 97, passed away peacefully on January 23, 2026, in Weatherford, Texas.

  Ralph was born May 16, 1928, in Coweta, Oklahoma, to Henry Edgar and Alpha (Waters) Cobb. He grew up in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, where he graduated from Broken Arrow High School. He served in the U.S. Army from 1946 to 1948 and was stationed on Adak Island, Territory of Alaska. He graduated from Los Angeles State College in 1957 with a degree in Electrical Engineering.

  While in college, he worked as a tool designer for Beech Aircraft Company in Wichita, Kansas, and Douglas Aircraft Company in Long Beach, California. He worked as a field-test engineer for the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power from 1954 to 1962. In April 1962 he went to North American Aviation, where he worked as a senior facilities project engineer on the Apollo Moon Program from its very beginnings until the program began to wind-down in 1971. He returned to the Department of Water & Power in 1972, where he worked until his retirement in 1983.

  Ralph’s passion was hiking and walking. He was an avid hiker in the southern California mountains. When visiting a former hiking partner in Florida, he hiked 160 miles across the Everglades with a gentleman who had the idea to organize a walk across the USA the following year. He joined in this effort and walked from San Francisco, California, to the White House in 1984. The walk took seven months, walking six days a week, covering some 3,800 miles. This was his proudest accomplishment that he loved telling others about.

  He is survived by his son, Ralph Cobb and wife, Elizabeth, of Weatherford, Texas, and daughter, Rita Sanroy of Seaside, Oregon; his three grandchildren, Leanne West (Matthew) of Champaign, Illinois, Moonie Mcelroy of Warrenton, Oregon, and Quinn Cobb of Sacramento, California; four great-grandchildren; his sister, Millie Fernald of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and numerous nieces and nephews.

  Ralph’s remains will be scattered in a private ceremony.

 Memorial contributions may be made to the World Food Program USA or Parker County Center of Hope.

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