News & Views of Phillips Since 1976
Saturday December 20th 2025
Ralph Rye: In Memory
Rye, Ralph Jay of Oliver, Wisconsin and South Mpls died unexpectedly Dec 14, 2012
Ralph was born Jan 15, 1948 to Marvin and Ardys (Erdal) Rye. Ralph was a graduate of Alden MN HS, U of MN Mpls, served in Peace Corps Ghana, taught school in Hurstbridge, Australia. After retiring from Excel Energy, Ralph enjoyed his second home in Oliver, WI, road trips, family and volunteering. He will be deeply missed. Ralph is survived by wife, Mary Lovick Rye; daughters, Hannah (Chris) Wilkowske, Moab, UT; Ellen (Rafael) Echenique, Crystal, MN; Rachel (Jason) Dahl, Wakefield, RI; and grandchildren, Magdalena, Ingeborg, Franco, Joaquin, and Juan Luis, Kezia, Beatrix; sister Amelia Nossum; brother Marty (Kathy) Rye; Aunts Eunice Strand, Miriam Scott, Sherry Rye; Uncles Donald (Annette) Rye, Pastor Norris Erdal; and many nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.
Tribute from Jana Metge: Ralph Rye, long time Phillips activist sadly has passed away. Ralph died this past weekend. His funeral will be at St. Paul”'s Lutheran on 28th Street and 15th Ave. So. this Friday, Dec. 21st at 11:00 a.m.
Ralph helped me to form the Phillips Block Club Network in 2002. This Network was in and around 28th Street with a mission to enhance safety and reduce crime.… Read the rest “Ralph Rye: In Memory”
Jim Koplin: In Memory
James Henry Koplin was born January 27, 1933, in Vergas, MN, the only child of Emil F. Koplin and Dorathea (Schlicht) Koplin, and died December 15, 2012, in Minneapolis, MN, after a short struggle with pneumonia.
After graduating from high school in Lake Park, MN, Jim attended the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks for one year before transferring to the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. After completing a BA in psychology in 1955, he served in the U.S. Army from 1955-57 and returned to the University of Minnesota to complete a Ph.D. in psychology in 1962.
During his graduate studies he met fellow graduate student Sally Katz, and they married in 1959. They divorced but remained close friends until Sally”'s death in a bicycle accident in 2000.
Jim began his teaching career at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN, in 1962 and then was a founding faculty member at the new Hampshire College in Amherst, MA, in 1970. After retiring from teaching, he moved to Fort Wayne, IN, in 1980, where he helped establish the Center for Nonviolence.
In 1982 he moved back to Minneapolis, where he volunteered for a number of community organizations dedicated to social justice and ecological sustainability, including Northern Sun Alliance, Organizing Against Pornography, the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre, and the Land Stewardship Project.… Read the rest “Jim Koplin: In Memory”
Keep citizen journalism alive!
Newtown and Us
By Peter Molenaar
Among the countless commentaries written in the aftermath of the Newtown tragedy there was an anomaly. The author advised that we not pursue empathy toward the parents. Any such attempt to connect with that moment of anguish and the extended grief would fall woefully short. Allow me to disagree slightly with this assertion.
It does help to bow the head and close one”'s eyes. Call it whatever, with me as your witness, even atheistic communists do this. By this effort human beings are able to approach comprehension. We must try.
To the Newtown Federation of Teachers, the Newtown Federation of Custodians, the Newtown Federation of Educational Personnel and the American Federation of School Administrators, the president of the AFL-CIO conveyed in part the following:
“”¦As a father myself, this tragedy is a parent”'s worst nightmare”¦do what we do best ”“ support one another as we try to recover from this senseless inexplicable horror.”
Related Images: