Ralph Lee Coates

Ralph Lee Coates passed away peacefully with family at his side in Salt Lake City, Utah on January 11, 2024. He was a spry 89 years old.

He was born on July 24,1934 in Moroni, Utah to William and Edna Coates. He was raised in Salt Lake City, Park City and Freedom Utah. He was the oldest of seven children. He graduated from Moroni High School in 1951. That same year he married his High School sweetheart Myrna Joyce Moss. He was a loving and devoted husband, father and grandfather with three children, ten grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren. Ralph and Myrna were constant companions and happily married for 72 years. A quiet man with a sharp intellect, Ralph was known for his creative mind and tireless work ethic. His family was his number one priority and he supported us with every resource and in every way he could. He was a dear friend and trusted confidant to all who were fortunate to know him.

Ralph and Myrna moved to Salt Lake City in 1952 with their two young children to pursue their education. Ralph worked as a construction laborer at Mountain Fuel Supply and took correspondence and night courses at the University of Utah. In 1956 he attended the University full-time while working afternoons, nights and weekends as a gas dispatcher. He received a BS degree in Chemical Engineering 1959 with an Outstanding Senior award. He applied for and was awarded a National Science Fellowship for graduate studies and completed his PhD degree in 1962. His early work was focused on rocket propellant combustion research. He started out as a Development Engineer for Hercules Powder Company operating a large rocket motor plant in Magna, Utah. The next year he was recruited by Lockheed Propulsion Company and moved his family to Redlands California. He was a member of the rocket firm’s Engineering Research and Mathematical Sciences Department and president of the company’s Scientific Research Society RESA. In 1967 he returned to Utah as a Professor of Chemical Engineering at BYU. He enjoyed many years as an educator and researcher of combustion Engineering and clean burning fuels. Using his background in rocket technology he developed a gasification process which converted coal into fuel gases and raw materials for plastics production. He directed the test project for coal gasification at Eyring Research Institute. In 1976 He became the Director of Research for Mountain Fuel Supply and moved his family to Salt Lake City. His research was funded by the DOE and culminated in the design and building of a 30 TPD Coal Gasification plant in West Jordan. When support of coal gasification research ended, he enjoyed an early retirement from Mountain Fuel and joined his brother Calvin as a partner in Coates Construction. This partnership expanded the business into a construction and engineering enterprise. They completed many industrial and commercial projects. The highlight of their partnership was building the Olympic Bobsled/Luge track. Never one to fully retire, he continued research and development projects in Oil Shale and Biomass Pyrolysis well into his eighties. He founded Amaron Energy to further research and development of Biomass Pyrolysis. He is the co-owner of several patents for Method and Apparatus for Fast Pyrolysis. He would still be working if he had not developed late onset Alzheimer’s disease at the age of 85.

Ralph was devoted to his parents and siblings. He and his brother Calvin regularly returned to Sanpete County and their father’s farm in Freedom Utah. They expanded the farm adding a turkey brooding shed and two grow out sheds and established W.D Coates and Sons. This grew into a partnership called Coates Farms, Inc with all seven siblings sharing ownership. Coates Farms became a member grower of the Moroni Feed Company. They also raised Charolais Cattle.

Ralph was a faithful member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was honored to serve as a High Councilman, a Branch President and a Bishop. Together with his wife Myrna he served a two-year couple’s mission in the Salt Lake Inner City. Ralph loved hunting deer and pheasants with his father, brothers, sons and nephews. He loved riding horses and camping in Glen Canyon. He was an avid fisherman and spent many hours trolling on Fish Lake, Otter Creek and Strawberry Reservoir with his family and friends. He loved BYU football and basketball. He loved to travel and explore the world with Myrna, close friends and family. Most of all he loved playing tennis. He was fortunate to have a large group of tennis partners later in life called the Avenues Seniors Tennis Group. They all had a tennis nick name and Ralph was named “The hit man”. He and Myrna were great tennis fans and attended the US Open, the Australian Open and Wimbledon. He adored his grandchildren and treated them to tennis lessons and scenic hikes above his home in the Ensign Peak neighborhood.

Ralph is survived and missed terribly by his daughter Jennifer (Shaun), his brother Gerald (Sandra) his sister Sharon Larson (Paul), sister Carla, sister Leslie Keisel (Tim) and brother Wallace (Faye), six grandsons, four granddaughters, ten great grandsons and seven great granddaughters. He was preceded in death by his loving wife Myrna, his son Stephen (Sylvia), his daughter Diane (Doug) and his brother Calvin (Larue). We are comforted to know he is reunited with his loved ones.

We would love family and friends to join us for a viewing in Salt Lake City at the Larkin Mortuary on 260 East South Temple on January 18th from 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm. Please also join us in person or virtually for his funeral service at the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at 82 N Center Street in Moroni Utah. The funeral service will be held on Friday January 19 at 12.00 pm with a viewing before the service at 11:00 am. Interment will follow at the Moroni City Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Alzheimer’s Association Utah Chapter.

A heartfelt thanks to the kind and skilled professionals at The Ridge Cottonwood and Inspiration Home Health and Hospice who took such excellent and loving care of Ralph.