Obituaries & Guestbook

Ralph G. Arenz, age 94, of Sheboygan Falls, passed away on Sunday July 6, 2025. Ralph was born on April 10,1931 in the city of Sheboygan, son of the late John and Verona Arenz. Ralph attended St. Peter Claver grade school until 1946 and graduated from Central High School, Sheboygan, in 1950.
He obtained various college credits over the years and eventually passed the engineering tests required to be rated as a Professional Electronic Engineer.
He married the former Joann R. Kasten of Sheboygan Falls in Beloxi, Mississippi in the year of 1951 while serving his country in the U.S. Air Force. Joann was his first and only love throughout their entire happily married lifetime until she died and was buried in 2006 on the day of their 55th wedding anniversary.
After, Ralph spent four years in the Air Force from 1951 -1955. His last duty station was at Griffiss AFB in Rome, NY where he was assigned to work in the Advanced Ground System Development Laboratory for the U.S. Air Force.
Upon discharge from the service, Ralph was hired as a civilian and worked his way up to become an Electronic Engineer and Program Manager on many new and advanced development programs in support of highly classified A.F. programs. One program in particular that Ralph played a significant part in was the development, testing, acceptance and fielding of a secret program called Selective Identification Feature (IFF) and the next generation system called Selective Identification Feature (SIF). These systems were designed with secure features for providing the government with the means for identifying and tracking military aircraft. Over time these systems evolved into the current methods used by all of today’s worldwide civilian flight agencies for maintaining control of all commercial aircraft. This was a worldwide accomplishment and Ralph was on the ground floor of its development. Ralph was very proud to have been a part of this accomplishment.
Over his years at Griffiss AFB, Ralph was involved in a significant number of advanced development programs used in fulfilling field requirements of all branches of service. To mention just a few, Ralph currently holds a joint patent for his idea developed by engineers at Stanford University, California. His device electronically enlarged the radar tracking size of small aircraft for purposes of their enhanced tracking and control. He was the program manager responsible for the development of a piece of equipment used during the resupply of Berlin, Germany during the Russian blockade. He headed up a program which resulted in the fielding of an aircraft deployed beacon used in Vietnam to detect troop and supply movements in the jungle. Ralph’s idea was used in the development of the first Laser Voice Communications, Physical Intrusion Alarm and Distance Measurement System tested for field use. He was involved in the testing and acceptance of the first hands-off automatic aircraft landing system.
Ralph worked at Rome Air Development Systems until 1976 during which time he was offered and accepted a Program Manager position at Wright Patterson AFB, Dayton, Ohio (WPAF). Wright Patterson is the Advanced Development Agency for Airborne Systems. While at WPAF, Ralph was one of the lead program managers associated with the development and fielding of a system that was deployed on Spy Aircraft, such as the U-2 and SR-71, in addition to Spy Satellites. To this day the results of the work he was associated with is still highly classified and in operational use and cannot be discussed in any detail because of the Secrets Disclosure Act he signed upon retirement. Ralph also had contracts with countries such as Germany and Saudi Arabia.
Ralph worked at WPAF until 1986 when he retired from Civil Service and was hired by a company named Science Application International Corporation (SAIC). SAIC was a well known and highly respected “think House” which was not specifically involved in producing a large quantity of any particular items. It was a multi-billion dollar company involved in “advanced state of the art” efforts where solving design problems for civilian, military, medical and commercial purposes was its primary purpose. Ralph’s title with the company was Electronic Scientist. He ran a team of engineers that supported the Air Force and Marine Corps in the development and fielding of a current generation ground and airborne satellite system used for monitoring ground operational activities. In many ways his work was a continuation of the work he was involved with when employed by AF Civil Service. Ralph retired from SAIC in 2002.
In 2004, Ralph and his wife Joann moved back to Sheboygan and enjoyed retirement with their friends and family.
He was preceded in death by his parents, John and Verona Arenz, his brothers, Roger and Vernon, and his wife Joann. He is survived by his son David (Laurette), his daughter Barbara Drummond (John Magalia), his grandchildren David Jr. and Elizabeth (Ed) Dodson, great grandchildren Alaina and Abigail Dodson. Of special mention are his brother’s children, who were like his own family, Susan (Dan) Gilbertson, Steven (Lois) Arenz, and Mark (Janelle) Arenz, and their children.
One person in particular was a very special friend, Louise Steuerwald. Ralph also enjoyed happy times with his friends from his 1950 graduation class and his friends and fellow volunteers at the St. Peter Claver Food Bank. It was a good life and now he is enjoying being with old friends and family in heaven.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at St. Peter Claver Catholic Church at a later date.