St. George, UT - Ralph Lemuel Webb, age 80, passed away peacefully on May 26, 2009 at his home in ST. George. He was a kind, patient and loving husband, father and grandfather, whose life was filled with service to his family and others. Born in St. George April 25, 1929 to Arvel Thompson Webb and Vilate Leavitt Webb. He learned to work at a very young age herding cows on the Cottom Bench south of St. George at age five. When moving to Hurricane at age seven, he helped his grandfather in the Hurricane Flour Mill and later when his father took over the mill was in business with him. He graduated from Hurricane High School and attended Dixie Jr. College before serving an LDS Mission in Virginia and North Carolina from 1949 to 1951. Following, he enlisted in the US Navy. He served on the U.S.S Blue and U.S.S. Iowa as boilerman BT3 from 1951 to 1953. After a medical discharge in May 1953, he returned home and married Ruth Cleora Alldredge September 30, 1953 in the ST. George Temple. They lived in St. George while he resumed his studies at Dixie Jr. College, graduating in 1955. While attending Dixie he also worked as a diesel mechanic helper at Rocky Mt. Service Trucking Co. and grocery clerk at Graffs store. They moved to Provo to attended B.Y.U from which he graduated with a B.S. degree in Chemistry and Bacteriology in 1957, after his internship at St, Marks Hospital in Salt Lake City. While interning at ST. Marks Hospital under Dr. Shelley Swift, he developed a new method of laboratory testing for the diagnosis of certain diseases. This procedure was presented to the State Medical Technology Convention and later published and presented at the National Medical Technology Convention held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He moved with his family of two daughters to Tooele where he worked as a Medical Technologist as head of the clinic laboratory and x-ray departments at Tooele Valley Hospital and also Tooele Clinic from 1957 to 1962. Two more daughters were born to them in Tooele. The family then moved to Salt Lake City where he was chief chemist at the LDS Hospital. He designed, installed and managed LDS Hospital Laboratory computer system (in conjunction with Medco and Control Data Corp.) This system was the largest laboratory system in the world at the time for which he developed the patient wristband I.D. system that is used worldwide today. He was also an organizer and operator of the Inter-Hospital Laboratory Quality Control System. While working at LDS Hospital he received a Masters Degree in Hospital Administration from Central Michigan University in 1981. Two sons and another daughter were born to them while living in Salt Lake City. His professional services included: President of Utah Society for Medical Technologist and also board member and committee member; delegate to the American Society for Medical Technologist and chairman of Biochemistry Scientific Assembly. He was an organizer of the Intermountain States Convention and Seminar and was also a member of the Medical Technologist Advisory Panel (Consultant to Aims Co.). He retired from LDS Hospital in 1985 and moved to Hurricane, where he established an RV Park in partnership with friends. An active member of the Church of Latter-day Saints all of his life, he has served in many callings including: teacher, dance and drama instructor, stake missionary, seventies presidency, stake mission presidency, high priest group leader, executive secretary, scoutmaster, home teacher and counselor in the Hurricane First Ward Bishopric. He and his wife served as temple workers in the Jordan River and St. George Temples. In 1996, after returning from serving a mission with his wife in the Buenos Aires North Mission in Argentina, they settled in St. George. He was a member of the Southern Utah Heritage Choir from 1996 to 2007 until he had a major stroke. He enjoyed the wonderful opportunity to travel and sing with his wife and the choir in many places including the Czech Republic, Carnegie Hall in NY, Armenia, Mexico, England Scotland, Washington D.C. and Philadelphia. Among his hobbies were fishing, hunting, gardening, reading, dramatics, storytelling and carpentry. He was a hard-worker and jack-of-all-trades. He is survived by his wife of 55 years, Ruth Cleora Alldredge Webb; seven children: Ruth (Michael) Luck, Miriam (Gordan) Nelson, Nancy Emms, Shirley (Bryan) Alfred, Joseph Arvel (Christy) Webb, Walter Ralph (Rachel) Webb, and Laurie Marie (Troy) Sattler; thirty-two grandchildren and thirty-five great-grandchildren; sisters: Mary Cox (Rockville), Evelyn Jones (Manila, UT), Gwen Holdaway, Joan Ballard (Hurricane), Dorothy Wilcox (Scenic, NV) and brother, Willard L. Webb (Washington, UT) He was preceded in death by his parents, Arvel and Vilate Webb, brothers: infant Walter Arvel, Karl and Allen Wayne, The family wishes to express their deep gratitude to care givers at DRMC and Southern Utah Home Care and Hospice. Funeral services will be held Saturday, May 30, 2009 at 11:00 a.m. at the St. George LDS 8th Ward Chapel, 166 Main Street, St. George, Utah. Visitations will be held Friday, May 29, 2009 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Metcalf Mortuary, 288 W. St. George Blvd., St. George, Utah and on Saturday from 9:30 to 10:45 a.m. at the chapel, prior to services. Interment will be at the Hurricane City Cemetery. Arrangements under the direction of Metcalf Mortuary, 435-674-4221.