Benjamin Leo Ruybalid
September 23, 1915 - September 21, 2006

Our family recently lost a very important member and he will be dearly missed. This photo was from his 90th birthday party/Ruybalid Family Chile Roast in Reno. He passed away very quickly and without pain. He was just shy of his 91st birthday which we were all looking forward to celebrating. We have a 1950's Westinghouse beer fridge in our garage with a tap in the door because Brent always wanted one just like his grampa's. It even has his tap handle on it.

Here is the obituary that he actually wrote himself:
Benjamin Leo Ruybalid, 90, passed away September 21, 2006 at St. Mary's Regional Medical Center. He was born September 23, 1915 in Canyon, CO to Frank and Deluvina Ruybalid. He was raised on a farm and went to school at Las Mesitas and graduated in 1934. He married Sadie Suazo in November 1935, and continued working and living on the family farm. Ben and Sadie had five children, Evelyn, Richard, Ben Jr., Edwin and Louise. When he left the farm, Ben went to work for Contructor when they were building Camp Carson and Camp Hale in western Colorado. Then he went to work at Los Alamos, NM when Contructor was building the Lab and housing for the people that developed the Atom Bomb. Ben served in the Navy and was honorably discharged in December 1945. He then went to work for the Government Bureau of Reclamation and was transferred to Grand Island, NE in 1947, then Hastings, NE. In 1954 he was transferred to the Ammunition Depot in Hawthorne, NV. In 1958 he went to work for the Corps of Engineers at the White Sands Missile Range near Las Cruces, NM during the Missile Sites construction. He also worked in Roswell, NM during the Atlas Missile Silo construction then back to White Sands during the building of the NASA project. He retired in 1976. During the years he worked for the Corp of Engineers he was sent to several Concrete Construction Seminars in Wichita Falls, TX (1960), Atlanta, GA (1967), San Francisco, CA (1972), and Vicksburg, MO (1973). Since he had attended the seminars and worked at the missile sites, he was advised to apply for certification to the National Institute for Certification in Engineering Technologies. He applied and was certified as a Materials Engineering Technician. Ben and Sadie moved to Reno in 1985 to be near their children. Ben was preceded in death by his wife, sons Richard and Ed, his parents, five brothers and one sister. Ben is survived by his daughters, Evelyn Ruybalid of Reno and Louise Briggs (Earl) of Sparks, his son Ben Jr., (Shirley) of Reno, daughters-in-law Alice Ruybalid of Reno and Lydia Ruybalid of Las Cruces, NM. Also surviving him are sister Susanna Coker of Fountain, CO; brother Ruben Ruybalid (Carol) of Central City, NE; twelve grandchildren and eight great grandchildren.