Ralph Cloyd Hauser

Obituary

Ralph Cloyd Hauser

aka. R. Cloyd Hauser

Born: December 17, 1934 Died: May 30, 2026

I was born at an early age in Akron, OH; parents, William R. and Mary E. Hauser. I died at 91 of causes incident to old age.

The longer you live, the greater the GWTW factor (Gone With The Wind). In Akron, I attended Seibealing Elementary (GWTW); original East High (GWTW); Akron University; in San Francisco, The Academy of Stenographic Arts (GWTW).

I was a Chain Gang member in high school. Olga Johnson was my Gregg shorthand teacher, a woman small in stature, giant in intellect. At test time, she would march her students from the classroom to the typing room, where we would transcribe our notes on manual typewriters. That parade of marching students became known as Miss Johnson’s “Chain Gang”.

What’s a manual typewriter, you ask? Now they don’t teach shorthand in our public schools. (GWTW)

I was predeceased by my parents; older sister, Alice; eldest son, Eric; my wife of 59 years, Mary Katherine, who died in 2014. Survived by my son, Todd, Seattle, WA; younger brother, Edgar, Royal Oak, MI; nephews in Michigan; niece in Ohio; four granddaughters, and several great grandchildren in Pocatello, ID.

In Akron, I held a variety of jobs, longest of which was in the general offices of the AC&Y Railroad (GWTW). I was drafted into the Army in 1959, served two years active duty state-side, honorably discharged.

In 1965, my wife, two boys, and I moved to California; in 1970, to Idaho. In Idaho, I was an official court reporter (stenotype) for District Judge(s), Arnold T. Beebe, Blackfoot (1970-1976); Arthur P. Oliver, Pocatello (1976-1982); William H. Woodland (1982-1985). I did freelance reporting thereafter, retiring in 1997.

I loved fly fishing and floating rivers (Idaho/Montana) with my son, Todd, friend Ron Jarman (and other fishing buddies); downhill and cross-country skiing with Mary and friends; coaching baseball (Little League through American Legion).

Over the years, I enjoyed playing poker and sharing food with a motley group of Pocatello-based guys known collectively as “The Pigs” (you know who you are). Famous food fare included my oyster stew (no oysters) and Jess’s two-man size pot roast for seven hungry guys.

For many years I was a member of the Idaho Falls Chapter of the Idaho Writers League (GWTW): I wrote the following poem:

Vestiges

When I have ceased to be

There will be vestiges of me,

Sparkling streams, drops of dew

Tears of joy and laughter, too.

Even when I’ve ceased to be

Monuments are built to me,

Dams and ditches and rivers’ roar

Flowers, birds, and clouds that soar.

Winds of change lay me to rest

Thaw drops from winter eaves attest,

There’s work to do, I am not free

Even when I’ve ceased to be.

When in the course of time I’m spent

Spend no moment to lament,

For all these vestiges bespake

A tiny crystal, a snowflake.

I hope to reunite with all the people I knew and loved; most of all, my wife, and my son, Eric. My life had many twists and turns. There is a bit of irony that it ended in a town on the banks of the Snake River.

A visitation will take place on Sunday, June 14, 2026, from 4-6:30 p.m. at Hawker Funeral Home, 132 S Shilling Ave, Blackfoot.

My ashes will be commingled with those of my wife, Mary. Half of them will be deposited in the Salmon River; half in the Madison River below the Bear Trap Canyon in Montana. These rivers flow on opposite sides of the Continental Divide, a place where Mary and I and our boys spent the major part of our lives and many happy moments. It’s fitting, too, that the winds of change lay our vestiges to rest there. GWTW.