Ralph Preston Purviance

Ralph Purviance, 79, of Inola, OK, Vietnam Army veteran and retired lineman and cable splicer for General Telephone in Broken Arrow, passed away on December 12, 2024. 

Ralph was born February 10, 1945 in New York to Preston and Mary Purviance. After World War II the family moved to Southard in western Oklahoma where Preston worked at the US Gypsum facility and Ralph’s grandparents operated a small farm. The family later moved to Alva, OK, and then briefly again to New York before returning to Oklahoma to live in Tulsa. Ralph attended Alexander Hamilton junior high and graduated from Nathan Hale high school in 1963. 

Some of Ralph’s fondest childhood memories were spent at “the farm” in Southard with his grandparents. He visited and stayed there in the summers and helped his grandfather work around the farm, tending sheep among other things. The hard, outdoor work on the farm was enjoyable to Ralph and set the stage for his activities later in life. 

During high school Ralph worked as a mason’s helper and worked for Sipes grocery stores in Tulsa. He continued working for Sipes after graduation and then began working at North American Rockwell, but only for a short time before being drafted into the Army in 1968. He served in Vietnam from 1969-1970 and was honorable discharged. After Vietnam Ralph began working for General Telephone (GTE) in Broken Arrow, OK as a lineman. He later worked as a cable splicer before retiring in 1996. 

Ralph and Lynn married in 1972, building their home in rural Inola and beginning a small hobby farm where he built a barn himself from the ground up. He briefly owned cattle, hogs, and other livestock but he was most fond of his horses. He loved to ride and care for his horses and taught his children how to saddle them up and ride. He learned farrier work, caring for his horse’s hooves and occasionally those of neighbors’ horses. 

Ralph was an avid outdoorsman, hunter, firearms expert, and was a master at gun stock finishing and checkering. Friends and neighbors frequently sought him out for his vast firearms knowledge, advice, and repairs. 

Ralph was known for putting in a large garden every year (and sometimes two gardens) with ample harvests of corn, beans, okra, tomatoes, and numerous other vegetables. Many summer days were spent working the ground and picking vegetables. Even in recent years, despite his mobility challenges, he still kept tomato plants on the porch, caring for them with meticulous concern. 

Ralph was highly active in his children’s elementary school, Gregory School, serving several terms on the school board in various roles. He was a frequent presence at the school, performing repairs, maintenance, and occasional construction up until the school closed in 1987. Gregory was a special place in the community and Ralph and Lynn still looked back with fondness at the time spent there. 

Health issues led to Ralph’s retirement from GTE in 1996 but he remained as active as possible in the years following. He began metal detecting, listening to shortwave radio, and stayed busy cutting and hand-splitting firewood, doing his best to keep a fire going in the wood stove all winter long. Like everything else, he became an expert in chainsaws and chain sharpening, and kept up very precise hand-splitting until he finally bought a log splitter at age 60. And even from a motorized wheelchair, he continued wood cutting and caring for his property. He could be seen on any given day sitting atop his wheelchair dragging brush or spraying for weeds in the yard. 

Ralph cared deeply for his family and provided everything he could for them. A natural and gifted craftsman, many things he made by hand. He never shied away from hard and necessary work and sought by example to instill this work ethic in his children. 

Despite his health conditions, Ralph still loved to spend time outdoors, even if it was a simple as sitting in his chair, soaking up the sun. Never one for spending much time indoors watching TV, for the times lately where he had to be indoors, he passed the time watching (and critiquing) gun videos on YouTube. He even had a chance encounter at a recent gun show in Tulsa, meeting his favorite YouTuber Hickok45. 

The family would like to thank all of Ralph’s past and present caregivers for their gentleness and dedication. A special thanks goes out to Barbara Volz for her tireless work for many years. She is truly a gift from God. 

Ralph was preceded in death by his parents, Preston and Mary Purviance. He is survived by his wife of almost 53 years, Lynn; brother Ron Purviance and wife Kathy of Colorado; daughter Angela Taylor and husband Trent of Tulsa; daughter Tonya Richardson and husband Steve of Tulsa; Son James Purviance and wife Kerri of Inola; nephew Preston Purviance of Colorado; granddaughter Hanna Bryant and husband Connor; granddaughter Cara McCarty and husband Michael; grandson Collin Taylor and wife Haley; grandson Ross Wilkinson and wife Faith; granddaughters Anna Purviance, Sara Purviance, Amy Purviance, and great-grandchildren Nora, Indigo, Aspen, and a great-grandson to arrive in 2025. 

Services are pending.