Estenio Rafael (Ralph) Gimenez

Estenio Rafael (Ralph) Gimenez

Ralph was born in Havana, Cuba on June 21, 1953 and went to be with the Lord on December 5, 2018 at age 65. At the time of his passing he was residing in Coral Springs, Florida.

He immigrated from Cuba to the United States in 1960 and became a naturalized citizen as soon as he could. He felt great gratitude to and deep love for his adopted country.

Ralph was a very talented and creative individual. During his professional life he held many positions including;  architectural draftsman, architectural designer, self-taught computer programmer, CADD trainer, software engineer, and architectural project manager.

Ralph was a member of St. Mary Magdalene Episcopal Church and had held a position on the vestry, was a layreader, and a member of the choir.  He participated in Cursillo, a missionary/aid mission in Honduras and broke his leg as part the relief effort after Hurricane Andrew.

He had many varied interests. He loved creating authentic, historically accurate models and dioramas of World War II aircraft and tanks, enjoying the research as much as the building of the models and dioramas from scratch. He was a prize winning miniature figure painter.  He was a published author of several CADD related technical articles. He was a published airbrush artist.  His favorite activity was flying a World War II computer simulation game with his online friends.  He also enjoyed researching the various planes and then 3-D modeling them, in extreme detail, for use in the game.  He found a whole virtual family with his flying buddies.

His greatest passion was his study and preservation of history. This led to his connection with the Word War II 325th Fighter Squadron (The Checkertails).  He was very proud and honored to be able to contribute to the three documentaries about the Squadron and to be adopted as one of their own by the veterans and their families.  The ultimate honor was being asked to design the monument that was erected in Lesina, Italy.

In his younger years he was an avid soccer player, played football and lettered in track. Before he had children of his own, he coached little league soccer.

Ralph was married to Carol Kimberly Cope Gimenez in 1981 and was very pleased and proud to have celebrated 37 years of a happy and successful marriage. His joy in this was only increased by the addition of his two cherished children, Adreanna Marie Gimenez and Evan Rafael Gimenez.  His family was always the most important thing and he placed them above everything else.

He is also survived by his beloved brothers, Miguel Angel (Mike) Gimenez and Alejandro Raul (Alex) Gimenez and his cousins, David Buznego, Robert Buznego and Carlos Buznego.

Memorial Mass Tuesday, December 11, 2018 12:00 PM St Mary Magdalene Episcopal Church 1400 Riverside Dr, Coral Springs,, Florida 33071

Cremation arrangements by T. M. Ralph Funeral Home 371 NW 136 Ave Sunrise, Floirda 33317