Dr. Ralphd. Roland

Ralph D. Roland was born in Garden City, Kansas, November 10, 1943. He left here for Heaven, July 30, 2009.
In between those two dates are 65 years of a life well-lived, a life filled with God's grace and blessing.
Ralph's Dad, Medford Roland, was first a wheat farmer in Kansas, a dairy farmer in Mesa, Colorado and then, in 1950, he was led by God to go into the ministry as a church planter in small towns in Oregon, Washington and Idaho.
During his 4th grade year, while in Nampa, Idaho, Ralph went to an evangelistic meeting and it was there that he made the most important decision of his life. That decision was to accept God's free gift of eternal life and his relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ began. That relationship was to shape and guide him for the rest of his life. The Bible verse he remembered being used that day was John 1:12,"But as many as received Him, to them gave He the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His Name."
In the spring of that same year something happened that would also influence the rest of his life. It was discovered that Ralph had been born with a heart defect and he had to undergo open heart surgery. It was the first of five open heart surgeries that he would endure over the course of his life. Because the problem had been ongoing for 9 years his heart was damaged and enlarged. This was to have a profound effect. As a young man it kept him from enlisting in the Army for the War in Vietnam. It also kept him aware of how short his life might be. It helped him to be serious about serving God each day that God gave him.
In high school, God used a math teacher named Frank Stowe to encourage Ralph toward a career in science. He chose to study chemical engineering at Mesa Junior College in Grand Junction and then at Oregon State University. Through friends at his church he heard about Bob Jones University, a large Christian University in South Carolina and he transferred there along with his brother Gary. He received his B.S. there, went on for a master's degree in physiology at Clemson University and then on to medical school at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. He interned at Rose Hospital in Denver. Ralph paid for his own education by selling dictionaries door to door through the Southwestern Publishing Company. With his big grin and enthusiastic ways he made a great salesman
It was at Bob Jones University that Ralph met Carol, his wife of 41 years. Twenty years and ten children later, Ralph had built a thriving medical practice, bringing in two other physicians over those years. His life revolved around three things: his family, his church (first called South Sheridan Baptist Church and then changing names to Red Rocks Baptist Church) and his medical practice, New Life Family Medicine.
Although he enjoyed camping, fishing and hunting his greatest interest other than his family was studying the Bible which he read through 2-3 times every year. He loved to share what he was learning from it with others. He was deacon, Bible teacher, counselor, and missionary all in one. When Carol got a sports jacket out of his closet for his funeral attire in one pocket was his ever ready prescription pad with a few handwritten notes in it about prayer. In the other pocket she found a Bible tract, a Bridge tract –that shows how a person can have forgiveness of sin , begin a relationship with God through Jesus Christ and how a man can know for sure that he will go to Heaven. How typical of Ralph Roland! He was not only concerned with peoples' physical health but also for their spiritual health and their eternal destiny.
How he loved his children and grandchildren! He felt they were a God-given heritage and that "happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them". He did not die Thursday until he had talked with each child, whispering on the phone that he loved them and reminding them to "keep your focus on the Lord". It is not surprising that many of his sons are in the ministry or preparing for it. He would desire that God be honored above all and that all would know that Ralph Roland is not dead but living in the presence of His
Savior, Jesus Christ.
He is survived by loving wife of 41 years Carol; 9 children and 22 grandchildren. Visitation Wednesday 9-10 A.M. Funeral service Wednesday 10 A.M. both at Red Rocks Baptist Church 14711 W. Morrison Rd., Morrison, CO 80465. Interment to follow at Golden Cemetery, Golden, CO. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the ministry of Matthew Thomas in India (Baptist World Missions)c/o Red Rocks Baptist Church.