In March of 1955, with two weeks of boot camp remaining before he’d ship out to Korea from an Arkansas training facility, he sat reading in the military library.
After his 18th birthday, Ralph was drafted into the military - a life-changing experience that gave him the courage to learn. On one project, when it was time for the workday to wrap up and dinner to begin, he would famously say, “I’d rather drive nails than eat.”įast-forward four years to 1954. “I’d rather drive nails than eat.”įor the next four years, Ralph spent his time as a hired hand on the farm but relished every opportunity he got to swing a hammer. That was when he gained a love for the job.
Ralph’s dad, who was good with a hammer and a saw, took note of Ralph’s skill with tools and brought him along to help out. In those days, the farmers in the Highland community would help each other with construction projects, building for their neighbors when help was needed. It was at that time he developed an important skill and a lifelong passion. He attended a parochial school led by nuns through the 8th grade, but with no high school nearby and no busing available, he joined his brothers and sisters working on the family farm at age 14. One of 14 children, Ralph Korte was born in 1934 to Tony and Minnie Korte, farmers in Highland, Illinois, a small community about 30 miles east of St. Growing up on a small farm in rural Illinois, Ralph Korte had no intention of changing an industry or attending college - he wasn’t even afforded the luxury of attending high school.
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