“We always ran into mothers who told him, ‘You delivered my baby,’” DeeAnn remembered. “Their babies are now 40 or 50 years old.”
Kah died May 22 from complications of Parkinson’s disease, what his wife called “a nasty disease.” He was 90.
Being married to an OB/GYN meant it was difficult for DeeAnn to make family plans since her husband constantly was called away for work.
“I never knew when he was going to be home,” she said. “He got calls all hours of the night. Those 3 a.m. calls got to him.”
A 1951 Middletown High School graduate, Dr. Kah graduated from Miami University and Ohio State University College of Medicine where he interned and completed his residency in obstetrics and gynecology. After serving as a captain in the U.S. Army Medical Corp, he returned to Middletown in 1966 and opened his practice.
The Kahs, who would have celebrated their 61st wedding anniversary on July 14, moved from Middletown to Ohio Living Mount Pleasant in Monroe last year.
DeeAnn described her husband as “a very smart, unpretentious, quiet man” who loved to read and travel.
Since DeeAnn, 84, said she “likes to talk,” the couple was a good match.
“We were definitely opposites,” she said with a laugh.
They shared a love of Miami University athletics. They were longtime men’s basketball and football season ticket holders, and 10 years ago, established the Ralph and DeeAnn Kah Athletic Scholarship, designated for MU student-athletes who want to pursue a medical career.
He was a fellow in the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology and American College of Surgeons. He also was a life member of the Episcopal Church of the Ascension where he served as a lay reader and senior warden, a member of Acacia Fraternity at Miami University and Phi Chi Medical Fraternity at OSU.
When Ralph and DeeAnn started dating, she didn’t like his first name, she said. After she learned he was called “Skippy” as a young boy, she nicknamed him “Skip.”
The name stuck, though his longtime friends called him Ralph, she said.
Besides his wife, Kah is survived by a daughter, Kathryn Lee Brown; grandchildren, Avery, Nela, Grace; sister, Zelma Kathryn Sandberg and nieces, Leesa and Lorie.
A funeral service will be held at 11:00 a.m. Saturday at the Church of the Ascension, 2709 McGee Ave., Middletown.
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