Ralph Wildy Zimmer, transportation engineer, loving husband, father, and grandfather, passed away on December 26, 2024, at the age of 83 in Lee’s Summit, Missouri where he had just seen his children and their spouses plus three of his four grandsons. He was born April 29, 1941, in Dodge City, Kansas, the only child of Harold Ellsworth Zimmer and Mary Louise Wildy Zimmer. He moved with his parents to Omaha, Nebraska in 1946 and to Lakewood, Colorado in 1951, graduating from Lakewood High School in 1959.
He was active in 4-H as a youth, winning a trip to the National 4-H Congress in Chicago and a national 4-H college scholarship in the safety project.
Ralph went to Purdue University in Indiana, earning a bachelor’s degree in 1964, a master’s degree in 1965, and a Ph.D. in 1972. All were in civil engineering, with his graduate work in transportation engineering. He was a member of Phi Eta Sigma, Chi Epsilon, Tau Beta Pi, and Sigma Xi academic honoraries.
While at Purdue, he was active in student government, serving at various times as Chief Justice of the Student Supreme Court, Assistant to the Student Body President, and Chairperson of the Student Senate Student Affairs Committee.
Upon graduation from college, he helped supervise highway construction projects in Grand Teton National Park for the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads (now the Federal Highway Administration). From 1965-69, he worked as a highway research engineer in BPR’s headquarters office two blocks from the White House.
In 1972, he joined the faculty of Montana State University’s Department of Civil Engineering as an Assistant Professor. In addition to his academic duties, he led projects assisting both the Montana Department of Transportation and the Minnesota Department of Transportation in developing their traffic records systems and most particularly their capabilities in identifying high crash locations.
Circa 1985, he moved to the position of Assistant to the Dean of Engineering. Because of inherited macular degeneration, which caused progressive deterioration of his eyesight until he became legally blind, he was forced to take a disability retirement in 1998. He had earned the titles of Associate Professor Emeritus and Senior Research Engineer.
Ralph was licensed as a Professional Engineer in the District of Columbia and the states of Indiana and Montana, and he was titled as a Traffic Engineer in the state of California. He served as President of the Montana Society of Engineers and as President of the Intermountain Section of Transportation Engineers (the states of Idaho, Montana, Nevada, and Utah). He was a Fellow in the American Society of Civil Engineers, a Fellow in the Institute of Transportation Engineers, and a Fellow Emeritus in the Association of Transportation Safety Information Professionals.
He was the first-ever recipient of ATSIP’s Distinguished Achievement Award and a recipient of the James L. Pline Distinguished Member Award from ITE’s Intermountain Section.
For four decades, he served as Chairperson of the Bozeman (Area) Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee and as a member of the Bozeman Transportation Coordinating Committee.
Ralph was head usher at one of Bozeman United Methodist Church’s worship services for over forty years. He served on various regional and denomination-wide church committees and governing boards. He was a member of a 1999 National Council of Churches delegation that went to Cuba to meet with Fidel Castro.
One of his hobbies was parliamentary procedure. He served as the official parliamentarian for a series of four United Methodist bishops and as the long-time parliamentarian for a national society.
Until his vision interfered, he enjoyed photography and had photos printed in national publications.
Dating back to the days he commuted by train between his parents’ home in Denver and college in Indiana, he had a love of railroads. He spent substantial time doing archival research on Montana transportation history. He was a Life Member of the American Railway and Maintenance of Way Association and an Emeritus Member of its Education and Training Committee.
Ralph had a lifelong love of travel, particularly by air, and greatly enjoyed traveling for family trips including several to Europe which included visits to Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, Spain, Italy, and Norway. He delighted in being accompanied by his family on business trips such as an annual conference in Jackson, Wyoming. He and his wife explored Great Britain, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand.
Before he retired, he routinely served on over thirty committees at a time and often chaired a few of those. One acquaintance described him as a committee junkie. He savored the travel involved for his professional and church business.
In 1964, he married Gloria Lee Goings in her hometown Methodist Church in Rome City, Indiana. Their first child, Kurt, was born in 1969 in the District of Columbia. Their second child, Anna, was born in 1972 in Bozeman.
Ralph was preceded in death by his parents, parents-in-law, Don and Nellie Goings, and brother-in-law, Rob Goings.
Ralph is survived by his wife, Gloria of Bozeman; his son, Kurt (Heather) Zimmer of Vancouver, Washington; Heather’s son, Cillian Blow (fiancée, Ali Lehner) of Battle Ground, Washington; his daughter, Anna (Bryan) Wolfe and their sons, Harrison, Charles, and Philip of Raytown, Missouri. He is also survived by his sister-in-law, Donna Goings of Bloomington, Indiana, her daughters, Shannon Tibbs (Scott) of Bloomington and Sherri Goings (Peter Midthun) of St. Paul, Minnesota, and her grandsons, Timothy, Rob, and Dorian. He leaves many much-loved cousins in his and Gloria’s families.
A Celebration of Life will be held at Bozeman United Methodist Church at 2:00 pm on May 24, with interment later at Rose Hill Cemetery in Albion, Indiana.
Arrangements are in the care of Dokken-Nelson Funeral Service. www.dokkennelson.com
