Ralph Vogel

Ralph Jean Vogel, 73, died May 16, 2022 in Cornerstone Specialty Hospital from a Feb. 7 fall at his Little Rock home. The fall paralyzed him with a neck injury. After this prolonged illness, he succumbed to a heart attack.

Vogel was born Sept. 24, 1948 at St. Joseph Hospital in Vancouver, Washington to Sylvia Henderick DePreter Vogel, a native of Belgium, and Henry W. Vogel. In 1958 the family moved to Spokane, Washington. Vogel attended public schools there, graduating in 1966 from Shadle Park High School. In 1968 he earned a two-year accounting degree from Kinman Business University.

Vogel joined the U.S. Army in late 1968 and completed basic training at Fort Lewis, Washington. In 1969, he was sent to the Army Medic School. “Typical Army,” he later said. “Make a medic out of an accountant.” But Vogel’s introduction to Army medicine launched him into a medical career. He was assigned to an aid station in Lai Khe, Vietnam, where he was both a medic and a helicopter gunner.

After 12 months in Vietnam, Vogel completed his enlistment at Fort Lewis. He was honorably discharged in 1971 and sought a nursing career. In his 60s, he was awarded a Purple Heart and diagnosed disabled by the Veterans Administration for his Vietnam exposure to the herbivore Agent Orange.

Vogel earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Eastern Washington University in 1975. After graduation as a Registered Nurse, Vogel became one of two nursing students in Washington to be selected for the newly created Nurse Practitioner program. For more training, he was sent to medical facilities in Bethesda, Maryland; Houston and Philadelphia. Vogel selected pediatric oncology as his specialty.

He worked briefly at Seattle Children’s Hospital. In 1980 Vogel moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where he worked as a pediatric nurse practitioner at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. While in Memphis he earned a master’s and doctoral degrees in pediatric nursing (1987). About 1992, he moved to Little Rock to be a professor at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS). He retired in 2012, but continued to serve his community. Over decades he comforted, extended and saved many young lives with his knowledge, diagnostic skills and experience.

Vogel was a committed bachelor, and extraordinarily generous, especially toward children and animals. Many children had better Christmases, Halloweens and birthdays because of Vogel’s generosity. He loved cats, whether his own, the neighbor’s or stray -- all felines were welcomed with a meal and a warm hangout.

A gregarious and self-confident character, Vogel’s other interests included stamp collecting, fishing, cooking, music, poker, bridge, playing craps, gardening, cheering the Green Bay Packers, road trips, and reading. He embraced the culture and heritage of the South.

Vogel loved trout fishing. From 1971 to 2012 he enjoyed vacations at the family’s remote log cabin at Charlotte Lake, British Columbia. Throughout the years, he enjoyed his Canadian friendships.

Preceded in death by his loving parents, Vogel is survived by his brother, Albert Vogel, of Dugway, Utah, and cousins in the U.S. and his mother’s native Belgium. He lives in the hearts of many friends, including his girlfriend for 20 years Terri Schaefer, who was very attentive during his hospitalization. Her children were fond of Vogel; her grandchildren thought of him as a grandfather.

Dr. Ralph Jean Vogel was a man of profound intelligence (I.Q. 147), compassion, empathy and wit. He believed in justice and equality.

His memorial service is Friday, June 3, at 3:30 p.m. at the Church at Rock Creek, 11500 W. 36th Street, Little Rock. Arrangements by Smith Little Rock Funeral Home. Inurnment will be at Riverside Cemetery in Spokane, Washington, beside his parents.

Memorial donations may be made to:

Feed Arkansas Kids

feedarkansaskids.com/donate

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

501 St. Jude Place

Memphis, TN 38105

University of Arkansas Medical Sciences

Institutional Advancement

4301 West Markham Street #716

Little Rock, AR 72205

Humane Society of Pulaski County

14600 Colonel Glenn Road

Little Rock, AR 72210