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First Posted: 1/13/2013
Ralph James Faraday, 73, of Pittston, passed away Friday, Jan. 11, 2013, at the Wilkes-Barre General Hospital.
Born Feb. 1, 1939, in Pittston, he was a son of the late William and Helen Evans Faraday.
He was a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and was formerly employed by Nelson Manufacturing in Wyoming for 17 years.
Ralph was an avid New York Yankees fan and never missed a game on TV (unless they started to lose at which time he would change the channel). He coached loudly from his couch in front of the TV, much to his family’s amusement.
He loved watching his grandson, Stefan, play ice hockey and struggled through sitting in the cold ice rink just to get to see him play. He could always be seen at the finish line when Crestwood track and field started, prepping Kailee with her previous years’ times so she knew the times she needed to beat. At the end of one year, writing Wait till next year following it up with I told ya.
Bernie and Shawn tried to get him interested in soccer and lacrosse, but that wasn’t his cup of tea, as he said. He spent many days watching Alyssa’s basketball games, and then slowly, as she began to play field hockey, his love of the sport began. At first he complained that they blew the whistle every two minutes for nothing. After we bought him a rule book, he began to understand the game and often was heard making calls from the sidelines. As Megan and Kailee got older and started to play field hockey, his love of the game grew. He was Megan and Kailee’s biggest fan and was Crestwood field hockey’s biggest fan, too! He traveled whenever he was able to go and watch them play. He raced around the field in his Jazzy to catch the best view of the game. If he had to miss a game due to sickness, he sat by the phone waiting for one of us to call in the scores to him. If we took too long to call him, there was heck to pay.
He kept his stat books at home with all of the scores and records and could tell you results of any game since 2004. When the girls were playing a session in the Sports Dome he always had the schedule before we did because he had connections at the dome. He always told Megan and Kailee that the only thing he wanted was to see them and Crestwood field hockey win a state championship, and this past November his dream finally came true!
We love you and will miss you. We know you will be there with us at every field hockey game, but now you will finally have the best seat in the house!
Preceding him in death were infant brother, Arthur; brother William and niece Joan Kollar.
Surviving are his wife, the former Gayle Haefner; daughter Jackie McCole and her husband, Bernie, Mountain Top; son, Ron, Old Forge; daughter Kim Krupski and her husband, Paul, Mountain Top; grandchildren, Alyssa, Bernie Jr., Shawn and Megan McCole, Kailee and Stefan Krupski; sisters, Jean Faraday, Pittston; Ethel Delia, Pittston; father-in-law, Arthur Haefner, of Harding; several nieces and nephews.
Ralph’s family would like to thank the General Hospital nursing staff for all of their care and compassion. The family also extends a special thank you to Dr. Michael Rupp and Dr. Andrew Stuka. You will forever be in their thoughts and prayers. Without the both of you, Ralph would not have enjoyed the last few years of his life with his family and would not have seen his field hockey dream come true. Your care, compassion and skills are unmatched and the family will forever be grateful that you were both a part of his life.
The funeral will be held at 10:15 a.m. Monday from Bednarski Funeral Home, 168 Wyoming Ave., Wyoming, with a Mass of Christian Burial at 11 a.m. in Holy Cross Episcopal Church, 373 N. Main St., Wilkes-Barre. Entombment will be held in Denison Cemetery, Swoyersville. Friends may call today, 5 to 8 p.m., at the funeral home.