Ralph, Ethel, William Harold, Georgeanne, Harold Ralph and Renn Stancil in 1963.
Courtesy Stancil Reunion Archive
George Ralph Stancil with cousin Clyde Stancil and brother Emmette Stancil in 1913.
Courtesy Stancil Reunion Archive
George Ralph Stancil, son of George Ira and Eva Ann Mercer Stancil, was an expert at Stancil family history and genealogy and longtime farmer in Marion County in Central Florida. Stancil and his wife, Ethel, grew tobacco at Stancil's Pineywood Farm for 37 years in Ocala.
Ralph was born on Jan. 21, 1908, in the tenant house of his grandfather, John Thomas Stancil, near Kenly in Johnston County, North Carolina.
Ralph was the second son and the fourth of 12 children. He had black hair and hazel eyes and was named after his father and Ralph Smith, a neighbor and brother-in-law of Harvey. He grew up surrounded by Stancil family history, including stories from John Thomas Stancil.
Ralph was relied on for his memory of Stancil history and could name four generations of his family, including all spouses and children. He attended more than 50 consecutive family reunions in North Carolina, where his knowledge was considered a family treasure.
Ralph became a Mason in 1934 while living in California and later joined the Shriners in Ocala. Throughout his life, he held various jobs: selling religious books in North Carolina, working in Woolworth's stockroom, running a country store, being a soda jerk, and working in construction in New Jersey. He also worked as a rigger, carpenter's helper, boilermaker, welder, blacksmith helper, machinist, and shipyard worker.
He was active in the Cattleman's Association, a member of the Farm Bureau, and part of the Marion County ASC Committee. The Marion County Farm Bureau honored his family as the Outstanding Pioneer Family in 1990.
Ralph attended the Woodard School, a one-room school that was only open from November to February. He used a slate and a tablet and pencil. Miss Emmer Woodard was Ralph's first-grade teacher. He graduated from Glendale High School in 1927.
After school, Ralph worked in Raleigh and Kinston, NC, and also lived with Graydon Renfrow in the fall of 1929. During this time, Ralph hauled tobacco to market in Graydon's truck. He also spent time in New Jersey and California. Everytime he was on the road, he made a point to visit Stancil family along the way.
Ralph courted Ethel Hales by mail, and they became engaged in 1934 when they met in North Carolina. They enjoyed a three-year correspondence by letters. Ethel collected their love letters in a book, "Love - For Keeps," published in 1996.
Ethel Hales and George Ralph Stancil in 1943.
Courtesy Stancil Reunion Archive
Ralph married Ethel on Aug. 21, 1935, at First Christian Church in Ocala. After marrying Ethel, he moved his membership to the First Christian Church of Ocala, Florida, where he served as an assistant Sunday school teacher, deacon, elder, and elder emeritus. He and his wife co-chaired the Membership Committee for several years.
After the wedding at the First Christian Church, they caught a Greyhound Bus and spent the night in Savannah, Georgia. After visiting both their families in North Carolina, they took a Greyhound bus to California, returning to Rodeo Valley. They moved to Northern California so Ralph could be the foreman of the Rodeo Valley Ranch. During this time, he helped care for Joe Stancil for a summer after Joe's father Harry Lester Stancil died in a fishing accident.
Ralph's father died in the fall of 1935, and Ethel's father passed away in 1936, leaving her mother alone. She wanted to return to Florida. In 1937, they moved into the house with Ethel's mother, Octavia Creech Hales, and farmed her land. Ralph grew tobacco, corn, peanuts, velvet beans, and hay. After selling the tobacco, they bought a pickup truck and 40 acres of land, joining the Hales estate.
Ethel Hales StancilContributed
Ralph joined the National Guard and continued farming and ranching while taking on roles such as real estate salesman and security guard. Ethel got work in Ocala with C.C. Bryant, a Certified Public Accountant. In 1936, Ralph took a job on an orange grove with a furnished house and then moved to the Thigpen farm.
Ralph and Ethel gradually bought land near her mother and eventually raised their four children on a farm north of Ocala. Ralph frequently attended Field Days at the University of Florida to improve his farming skills.
The farming of tobacco in Marion County, which started with his father-in-law William Madison Hales in 1930, ended with Stancil in 1969. The Stancils went on to tend cattle and farm corn, peanuts, rye, hay, and watermelon at the Pineywood Farm over the years.
Ralph's home was a welcoming space where he often said, "Come right in and make yourselves at home; we're not trying to sell it." Known for his entertaining stories, he deeply loved family and friends. His political opinions often made their way into editorial pages, and he wrote heartfelt eulogies about family members who had passed away.
Over the years, he and Ethel toured farms in England, Germany, Holland, France, Australia, New Zealand, Alaska, and Hawaii. Even at the age of 94, he was helping to bale hay.
On June 30, 2001, Marion County honored his legacy by officially naming the intersection of U.S. 27 and Northwest 60th Avenue "Stancil's Corner."
Ralph died at 96 on Sunday, May 9, 2004, at Sylvia's Hospice House in Ocala, Florida, after a year of declining health. He is buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens in Ocala.
His wife, Ethel, who died on Feb. 16, 2011, in Ocala, is buried beside him at Forest Lawn.
Ralph and Ethel Stancil's tombstone in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Ocala, Florida.
Ralph was preceded in death by his parents and siblings Myrtle Stancil Eason, who passed away one day before him, on May 8, 2004; Mamie Alma Stancil Blair (April 2, 2006); Hilda Maie Stancil Hales Stover (Sept. 3, 2005); Lola Myrtle Stancil Eason (May 8, 2004); Eva Vazelle Stancil Batts (Dec. 10, 1997); Dorothy "Dot" Jane Stancil Dennison (Feb. 21, 1997); Delanie Ethel Stancil (March 7, 1996); Celia Rachel Stancil Renfrow (Feb. 21, 1996); George Ira "G.I." Stancil Jr. (Feb. 8, 1995); Thomas Emmette Stancil (Nov. 29, 1992); Effie Irene Stancil Renfrow (Aug. 9, 1988); and Harold Lloyd Stancil (Oct. 13, 1944).
Ideas and opinions and beliefs of George Ralph Stancil:
1. I have no quarrel with my fellow
man about the follower of ideas and subjects and I hope he doesn't with me. I
believe they are private beliefs and freedom of choice should prevail.
2. His religious belief, demonstration of choice of Bible translation.
3. His politics -- his idea of good and bad laws Congress makes.
4. His choice of people he prefers to
associate with.
5. I am opposed to force race mixing
-- that should be freedom of choice.
6. I believe the Golden Rule should
be our guide in right and wrong.
7. I believe honesty is the choice
element of anyone's character and dealings
8. Free choice of music and reading
materials and expression of opinions
9. I oppose use of vulgar or profane
language of four letter words and public indecency in dressing and behavior.
10. I believe the Bible and it's
teaching is the greatest guidelines for humans to live by. God's 10 Commandments
should be taught in the home, in school, in the government hall or chambers and
the as the base of our laws.
11. Our motto "In God We Trust"
should forever remain. My favorite sentence in the "Lord's Prayer" is
"God deliver me from evil" as that's my daily prayer.
12. Beauty will fade, but sound
logic, well placed and managed, will always pay a dividend and profit.
George Ralph Stancil 
