Kathleen Anne Lacey Ralph

Kathleen Anne Lacey Ralph, 88, passed away Monday, October 10, 2022 following a period of declining health.

Born February 25, 1934 in Highland Park, Michigan, Kathleen was the daughter of the late Charles Evert Lacey and Anna Harris Lacey. Her father was a traveling Brethren preacher, and she lived in many areas of the United States during his career. She attended high school in Lubbock, Texas and college in Livingston, Alabama, where she trained to be a schoolteacher. After a year of teaching in Atlanta, Georgia, Kathleen moved to Grand Bahama Island in 1958 to teach the children of construction workers who were creating Freeport Harbour. In December 1959, she moved to Snake Cay, Bahamas to start a one-room schoolhouse for children of the Owens Illinois pulpwood workers. She lived on the grounded steamboat Robert Fulton and taught 20 children in grades 1-8. It was here that she met and married the love of her life, David Ralph, another American transplant. They married in 1961.

In 1970, David and Kathleen moved to Hope Town in Abaco, Bahamas, where they owned and managed the Lighthouse Marina under the shadow of the iconic Hope Town lighthouse. Kathleen initiated a small, one-room, private school for a few families in the area. During their tenure in Abaco, she and David also managed Boat Harbour Marina in Marsh Harbour and the private island Scotland Cay. In 1993 they founded the only newspaper in the region, The Abaconian . For the next 18 years, she wrote stories for the paper, was the sole copy editor, and did all the layouts.

In her spare time, Kathleen was a Sunday school teacher, church organist, piano teacher, dispatcher for the volunteer fire department, organizer for the regatta, volunteer Warden for the U.S. Embassy in the Bahamas, and secretary for the Chamber of Commerce.

David and Kathleen were married for 61 years. They were blessed with four children and five grandchildren. David Andrew was born in 1962 and died at 30 days with a congenital heart condition. John Alan was born in 1964 and died in 1973 in a sand dune accident in Hope Town. Elizabeth Anne was born in 1966 and is married to Wesley Allen with children Ashley and Andrew in Watkinsville, Georgia. Paul Mark was born in 1975 and is married to Shelley Richards Ralph with children Kyle, Jonathan, and Micah, in Spring Hill, Florida. Kathleen was a sister to the late Dorothy Lacey as well as to Charles Lacey with his wife Norma Coble Lacey.

In September 2019, Hurricane Dorian destroyed a portion of their house and most of their Marsh Harbour community; in the days following the storm, David and Kathleen moved to Watkinsville, Georgia to be near family.

Kathleen was an extraordinary woman of courage, grace, and faith and will be greatly missed by her family and friends.

The family extends their thanks and gratitude to all who cared for Kathleen at Piedmont Athens Regional Hospital and Winder Health and Rehabilitation.

A memorial service will be held Saturday, November 19, at 11:00 a.m. at Faith Presbyterian Church in Watkinsville, Georgia with Rev. Nathan Parker officiating. The service will be streamed live and recorded for those not able to attend in person. Her ashes will be interred in Hope Town, Abaco, Bahamas at a later date.

Faith Presbyterian Church YouTube Channel

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9NbcEZCzlUfxw9VkynUzBQ

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you consider a donation to Every Child Counts, an organization for special-needs children that was dear to her heart.

http://www.everychildcountsabaco.org/

Lord & Stephens Funeral Homes, West is assisting the family with their arrangements. www.lordandstephens.com