33 Photographer: Ralph Poole After two years of school, he began work for the brand new magazine, Road & Track ... and later contributed to HOP UP, CAR CRAFT, ROD & Custom, and CAR SPEED and STYLE magazines. Ralph met Carlotta Souza while at a dance at the Green Hotel in Pasadena. They immediately fell in love and were married on February 21, 1953. During their 62 years of marriage, they raised four children: William Thomas, John Stanley, Leslie Rena and William Wiley, had eight grandchildren, and nine great-grand children. Ralph began freelance photography work in 1963, working primarily in the automotive field. However, an active interest in boating led him to find work in that industry for companies such as Glasspar Boats and Chrysler Marine, as well as others. An adventurer by heart, Ralph joined writer and friend Spence Murray on two long cruises of the Gulf of California aboard a 25 foot boat, producing a couple of well known, pioneering books on the subject of cruising in Mexico. The two friends thirst for adventure led them to try and break the automotive speed record from Tijuana to La Paz, which was the holy grail of rugged off-road adventure. They succeeded beyond any expectations, breaking the existing record by almost half, while driving a stock American Motors Rambler. The sanctioned Baja 1000 race began the following year and he is credited for helping to start this famous event. In 1971, Ralph and Carlotta started their own publishing company, launching the first issue of Trailer Boats magazine. While the first decade was tumultuous, with grit and determination they survived, and by the 1980s a second publication, The Western Boatman, was started. Eventually five different magazines were created and in 2003 they sold the company after 32 years of ownership. Retirement found Ralph and Carlotta cruising aboard their trawler, "Poco-A-Poco." They went from Alaska to Maine, via the Panama Canal during their many years of cruising. Taking along many of their kids and grandkids, they helped teach valuable life lessons and a sense of adventure throughout the family. A funeral will be held at 1:00 pm, Friday, July 6th at the Marshall-Spoo Sunset Funeral Chapel in Grover Beach, CA and he will be laid to rest next to his beloved wife at the Arroyo Grande Cemetery. Story published on July 4, 2018 on Jalopy Journal.com
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