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Ralph Jensen – Celebrating a full life

"You gotta sound like what you are." - Ray Charles Integrity. I was thinking the other day how the heck I was gonna sum up Ralph Jensen's life. And then it hit me. He was Whistler's Popeye.
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"You gotta sound like what you are."

- Ray Charles

 

Integrity. I was thinking the other day how the heck I was gonna sum up Ralph Jensen's life. And then it hit me. He was Whistler's Popeye. Remember the old sailor's favourite saying? "I yam what I yam?" Well, I can't imagine another phrase that better reflects this ol' Whistlerite's style.

We lost a good one when we lost Ralph Jensen. Teacher, mentor, leader, friend - and passionate Whistler advocate - Jensen was the kind of guy on whose accomplishments our little community of valley dwellers was built. He was far too young to leave us. Way too wise to go so soon.

I can still remember how he'd greet my wife in the old days. "Hey Ladner," he'd growl out in his familiar nasal way. "When you gonna grow old like the rest of us?" And then he'd give her a big smooch and burst into laughter...

That was Jensen all the way. Rough and tough but with a heart of gold that he never bothered to camouflage. Ardent skier, precise builder, ski technician to the stars - the man invested his soul in every enterprise he undertook. And every character he took under his wing.

But enough of my words. In an effort to better reflect what this guy stood for, I put out a request to his friends for comments on his life. And given the size of his "community" I knew I'd get some good stuff. Here's a sampling of what I received:

From Thomas Grandi, Canada's most successful slalom ace: "I'll always remember Ralph's voice and the words 'Stay over them Thomas! Stay over them!' as I pushed out of the start. Ralphy, forever number one in the ski room."

From B.C. Alpine chief Bruce Goldsmid: "It was the early 1970s - Ralph owned a tree planting company called ODIN contracting. We were all tree planting at MINAC lodge on Canim Lake near 100 Mile House. On the next to final night Ralph did a liquor store run for the crew. The outcome was not pretty. Fun was had by all but none of us could plant the next day. He was a great boss..."

From Senator Nancy Greene: "Ralph was one of those special people who was always fun to be around. As a ski tech, he was superb, and I know his level-headed manner made for an oasis of calmness for World Cup racers under the stress of competition. Ralph was a giver, with a droll sense of humour and a cheerful smile. He will be missed."

Longtime ski tech David Armstrong comments: "Over the years not only did Ralph and I share rooms but we also shared a lot of ski prep knowledge. I even had to laugh as he would call home in the earlier hours to say hello to his dog Scuffles. Ask any racer who has had the pleasure of racing with skis tuned by Ralph Jensen - he was the best!"

With tongue held firmly in cheek, former Canadian downhill star Graydon Oldfied recounts how, "Ralph had more scars on his hands from sharpening skis... however I seemed to completely trust his advice on how to hold a file..."

Whistler realtor Lynn Venner provides yet another view of the man: "I knew Ralph through the ski team years. One quote I would like to give you was: Maddi always said, 'Ralph was the King of Love.' Ralph would always have a big smile on his face when she said that..."

For Michele Marsh, it's for what Ralph symbolized that she mourns: "I didn't know Ralph well, but felt saddened that a piece of what I feel represented the 'old Whistler' has left us. Keep smilin' Ralph..."

Old friend Toulouse Spence waxed near-poetic when reflecting on Jensen: "When I think of Ralph, I think of a solid person. In everything he did, built or conceived, it was solid. He was not a flimsy, whimsy sort of guy. He was a man of substance. Yet, when I visited him at the hospital less than a week before he passed away, he looked so frail that a strong puff of air might have blown him from the bed. How life changes us! Cancer may have riddled his body and ultimately took him down, but he never lost his sense of humour and never complained. What a guy!"

It was Whistler's Joze Sparovec who got me going on this project. Here is his twitter-length memory of his close pal: "Ralph was an avid golf player and we played lots of golf together. With ailing heath his drives were getting shorter. One day at Nicklaus North on the fourth hole, a long par four, his drive was very short. Suddenly a big black bear walks on the fairway, picks up Ralph's ball in its jaws, carries it slowly towards the green and drops it several feet from the green. Ralph said with a huge grin: 'That must be the gift from the Gods.' And it was..."

Ralph was indeed a fighter. And he never backed away from a good challenge. His sister Karen says it's a trait you could trace right back to his childhood. "Ralph was always there to protect me. In one instance when we were teenagers, he was ready to take on about five guys. When I expressed my concern, he said 'Don't worry. I've got my lacrosse stick!' He was a wonderful brother..."

Jensen was also a fierce competitor - in everything. As Dr. Bob Morrell fondly remembers: "I spent several Octobers with Ralph in Hintertux, an Austrian glacier used every October by Alpine Canada. I was the doctor for the men's and women's ski team there.

"I met and immediately made friends with Ralph. Continually smiling face, good humour and strong work ethic as well as an avid tennis nut. We would slip away to the village below (after ski training) to play several matches on our beloved red clay courts. Ralph would start by moaning and groaning with stretches, wrapping both legs and knees with some old used tensor bandages, wrap his wrist with tape and finally we would play. He would slowly take the time to groan while bending for each stray ball. The results were always the same however: Ralph's smiling face - victory again. Achieved by his uncanny ability to sprint for every shot when the time came to be agile. What a great guy, good sportsman and well-remembered friend..."

From Whistler lifer Jimbo, we get this take: "Years ago Ralph decided to make his own wine from scratch, including buying special grapes. At parties when the wine ran out, Ralph would produce a couple of bottles of his wine. You had to be careful when you poured it because of the sediment. It served the purpose but you paid the price the next day. I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't still a couple of cases of 'Ralph's Ruff Red' in the crawl space at his house."

My sister-in-law Jinny also knew Ralph well. "He and Glen Lynsky were partners for many, many years," she recounts. "And it's my understanding that they were the only builders in Whistler that (renowned architect) Bo Helliwell would have build his houses.

She continues: "Ralph once told me that a lot of his time growing up in East Van was spent hanging out on street corners and playing lacrosse. When he learned to ski, he felt that it took him away from all the aggression he was experiencing in the city. He thought if he had stayed in the city he would have become a very different person.

"Ralph's first year in Whistler was circa 1966-67. He lived in an old Volvo in the parking lot of Alpine Village. The next year he rented one of the units. Soon after that he bought his lot in Alta Vista and together with his father, he built the house he always lived in which became home for many passing through Whistler - as well as being a source of great parties, everyone welcome."

And here's a memory we can all smile at. Talk about Whistler spirit! "I met Ralph in Grenoble, France in 1973 when he and Glen went over there, theoretically to learn French but in reality to race with the Grenoble university ski team. Their apartment, shared with (restaurateur) Mark James, was on my way home from classes so it was a regular meeting place. One memorable weekend, the Whistler contingent at Grenoble (consisting of Ralph, Glenn, Mark, Kashi Richardson and Jinny) went up to Val d'Isere to cheer Dave Murray in his first World Cup downhill with the national team."

More than anything, though, Ralph was a perfectionist. It was the details that impassioned him. "Ralph was always focused on the nuances of every sport he got hold of - skiing, then tennis then golf. Every turn, stroke, hit was fully analyzed before and after. Every teaching aid, coaching tip was looked at over and over. You were never lost for conversation with Ralph because he loved to discuss, rehash, and analyze it all."

From nephew Ryan, we get this revealing story: "When I was 17 years old I worked for my Uncle Ralph as a labourer on a house he was building. Not paying attention to where I was walking, I fell through an unfinished wall and on to the floor below. Ralph quickly came running over and was relieved to find me alive. He then asked if I was OK. I stood up and said I can walk. Ralph replied, 'Thank God, I don't have insurance for you. Take the day off and be back to work tomorrow.'"

Tough. The guy was really tough. But loveable too. Here's a note from a childhood friend: "Well," says Boyd Bechler, "Ralph was not only a remarkable Whistlerite, he was an even more remarkable Humanite. My twin brother Bob and I have known Ralphie since we were five and six years old, and to this day we consider Ralph and his family, our family. FRIENDS FOREVER...

"Ralph was our oldest friend... He was the most natural person in the world to be around and it was always fun to spend time with him. Even in his last few weeks, Ralphie never complained, and was very grateful and appreciative for his time here on earth. Imagine, never complaining; geez most of us complain to complain and there's Ralph, musta been hurting like crazy, but still the same old friend, laughing and enjoying himself. He was a champion in the truest, humblest sense of the word...

Bechler goes on: "Our mom was sick and dying from cancer and passed away in May of this year. Ralph, Karen and Zeba took the time to visit my mom, and when she passed away, Ralph and his family attended my mom's celebration of life. We knew Ralphie was hurting and we would have understood if he couldn't have made it but boy, did we appreciate it. I had the opportunity to pull Ralphie aside and to tell him I loved him and Ralph didn't hesitate and told me he loved me too, and then he quickly added, 'These drugs these guys are feeding me are making me more in touch with my emotions and maybe that's a good thing.' We laughed and hugged each other and carried on. When I visited Ralph in hospital all he wanted was an ice cream cone. We had the opportunity to look over our old high school yearbook Class of 64 and I had great fun belting out Hail All Hail to Gladstone High.

"Growing up in the '50s and '60s seems so far away from today but boy they were the best of times: Elvis, Rock and Roll, The Beach Boys, cruising Kingsway from Wally's Burgers to Kings Drive-in at Fraser and Kingsway. Sea cadets, weightlifting, girls, ducktails: man, we had the world by its tail, or so we thought...

"We got involved with team sport early, soccer being the first organized sport we played, but soon got drawn to box lacrosse, English rugby, track and field, wrestling, waterskiing... Once again, environment played a huge and defining role in Ralph's life. Oh, did I mention that Ralphie excelled at anything remotely athletic? Which brings us to the sport he loved the most: snow skiing.

"Ralph's love of skiing was obvious early. I like to think he started his skiing career the day my brother's and mine ended..."

Meaning? "Ralph, my brother and I were 12 years old when we made plans to head up to Grouse for our first day of skiing. It didn't matter that my brother and I didn't have any skis, Ralph found some old skis and a couple of poles and we were on our way. However it was cold and rainy and wet and dreary and we were only wearing blue jeans but we made the best of the day and enjoyed, but for us that was it. We stuck to water skiing. Ralph did both.

"I think it was the Viking blood coursing through Ralph's veins that kept drawing him back to the slopes and when Ralph discovered Whistler he had found his Nirvana. Remember it was the '60s, surfers and ski bums and all that. Enter Ralphie. He took to the early Whistler scene like a duck to water.

"My brother likes to tell the story about Ralph's first car. It was what I call a Swedish Bentley - a 60ish Volvo, the one which was shaped like a size 8 Wellington shoe. He owned it for what seemed forever...

"Ralph loved that car. (Swedish-Norwegian, get the connection?) Anyway, back to the Volvo, we like to say that it gave Ralph his first carpentry job. He didn't have a place to stay at Whistler so he bought a sheet of plywood and built his first house (OK, so it was a bed) inside the car. I think he used it for a year or two. Ralph told me that once he started picking up a handsaw and hammer it just felt right (his dad Ole was a carpenter).

"Even though Ralph was far from a hippie, he certainly had the adventurer's spirit and made do tree planting, working as a busboy, hospital laundry, whatever it took to pursue his dreams. Ralph had the opportunity to travel extensively with the men's downhill ski team and loved every minute of his time with them and all the lifelong friends he made along his journey..."

And finally here's the Ur story about Ralph's ski racing passion. The storyteller this time is former Whistler ski bum, race coach and gadfly Olle Larson. Listen well: "In 1968," he remembers, "Ralph had no idea where his ski passion was going to take him. At the time the most serious skiers at Whistler were the ski bums, as there was no ski-racing club in Alta Lake (the name of the town at the time). As Ralph was sleeping that winter in his Volvo parked at the ski area's Creekside lot, he considered himself a hardcore ski bum.

"It was visiting coach Ron Williams who convinced Ralph and his ski friend (and recent Swedish immigrant) Olle Larsson, that starting a racing career at age 24 was no problem. Subsequently, the decision by Ralph to start ski racing laid out the most important path in his life. His first team was the Squaw Valley Ski Team in California, 1969.

"A few seasons after that Ralph went to France with his friend Olle where they ended up racing for several years throughout the Alps and the Pyrenees. Financially they supported their passion with a combination of tree planting and construction in Whistler in the off ski season. Ralph was well known for his dedication - his friends called him stubborn. Whatever it was, he never would give in, he always pushed himself to the outer limit in whatever he did.

"Ralph started a tree planting company in 1972 with Olle and his brother Jan - named Odin Contracting due to the Nordic heritage of all the partners. Years later, Jan was dragged over to France after having worked at the Whistler mid-station one winter. In 1980 Jan became Rossignol's international race director.

"One autumn in the mid '80s Ralph was visiting Jan in France. That was when he was talked into becoming a ski technician on the World Cup circuit for Rossignol. Soon Ralph's reputation as a perfectionist spread on the alpine World Cup.

"Ski racing can be very serious at times; Ralph was the perfect remedy for a balance between fun and dedication. He would never waste a good joke or a funny comment - no matter how serious a moment it was for any athlete. Ralph's compassion, combined with his kind and helpful attitude made him an important part of a successful National Team.

"The Olympics at Whistler was truly a highlight for Ralph. During the Games there was a steady stream of visiting racers, coaches and friends from France, Switzerland, Sweden, USA and Canada. When asked if he wanted to be at the race hill watching during the Games Ralph said that he had been to so many races inside the race arena at Olympics and World Championships that he felt that he had seen enough. The TV broadcast was good enough."

But make no mistake. Ralph also had his mischievous side. Olle's brother Jan remembers this well: "One December day in the late 1990s I came home for Christmas and I found my wife Shirley and Ralph sitting at the kitchen table looking rather pleased with themselves."

Turns out the two had just banged down a wall between the kids' bedrooms. "We had a 250-year-old house," writes Jan," and Ralph just wanted to get his hands on it, to change this or that. I had no time since I was working so much, but Ralph had all the energy in the world...

Still, that wasn't the biggest surprise. "They'd almost finished a bottle of red wine," recounts Larson. "So Ralph says: 'It looked good enough so we tried it.' Good enough? It was a Bourgogne, Hospice des Baune - you can't buy that in the store, you are only invited to buy one or two bottles if you are a good client! Then it cost hundreds of dollars..."

He concludes: "Again, Ralph's good taste in life got the best of my wine cellar. At least he enjoyed life - in whatever he did."

And that, my friends, is as good a remark as any to conclude this missive. We are going to miss you terribly, Ralph Monrad Jensen, Viking Warrior and proud Whistlerite. May your ski wax always run fast and your edges stay sharp.