Editor's note: I've combed Bluffton University's Memory digital archive, but only found written, not photographic, records of Ralph Stearns' time at Bluffton College. 

By Bill Herr

I'm writing several columns on the most unforgettable characters I have ever met. The first is on the Stearns brothers, Telsa (Tubby) and Ralph.

When I came to Mennonite Memorial Home as chaplain, these brothers were getting older (Ralph was in his late 90s) but they were of good mind and spirit and participated in all the activities at the nursing home. This included spending time at the pool table with fellow residents. Tubby was much younger and kind of looked after Ralph.

How Tubby got his nickname, I never found out. He was big and athletic-looking, not at all overweight. He had played football and basketball at Bluffton High School. After he graduated, he played on a local semi-professional football team. He told me that, unbelievably, his team had scheduled a game to be played at Bluffton against Jim Thorpe and his semi-professional team. Jim Thorpe was a legend in American athletics. He was a Native American who was ranked by an ABC Sports poll as the greatest American athlete of the 20th century.

Thorpe had won two Olympic medals in 1912, the pentathlon and the decathlon. He played professional football for several years, and also professional baseball and basketball for a few years before the Olympics.

When the Olympic officials learned of this, they stripped him of his medals, but they were restored posthumously after his death. If you see pictures of Thorpe you can tell he was muscular, big, and strong.

Tubby told me it was incredible that Thorpe's football team scheduled a game to be played in Bluffton. Tubby was on the local semi-professional football team but he had a problem. Tubby's parents were very religious, and he said they never allowed him to play in any sport on Sunday. The game was scheduled to be played on a Sunday. Tubby knew he would not be allowed to play in the game. For some unknown reason the game never took place. Thorpe's team cancelled. I said to him, "Tubby, you could have tackled one of America's greatest athletes." Tubby replied, "Aw, he would have killed me."

Tubby's brother Ralph was not as athletic. After high school, Ralph completed a year of business education at Bluffton College. Then he enlisted in the army to serve in World War I. He was stationed at Kelly Air Base in San Antonio, Texas. It was just being revived. Because Ralph had business training, he became important to the administrative staff. He was quickly promoted to corporal and soon to Staff Sergeant under the head man at the base, Captain Switzer. His army squadron went to France, but he was held back to help at the Air Base. He remained on the base until the war ended in 1919. After coming home, he became postmaster at Bluffton.

After he retired, he did something in his life that most people would refrain from doing. In his late 90s, Ralph told me his grandson Bobby lived in Florida and his job was to take ordinary people on parachute jumps. He would be attached to the person. Ralph told me, "Bobby said to me, Grandpa, how would you like to do a jump with me?" These are Ralph's exact words as he told his story. "When he asked me that, I said, 'yes.' Now, why I said yes, I don't know."

Ralph and Bobby did the jump and someone jumped with them and videotaped the entire jump from leaving the plane until they landed. As I remember, Bobby was behind Ralph and Ralph held out his arms as he looked downward during the jump.

Later, at a men's activity meeting at Mennonite Memorial Home, Ralph told about his experience of the jump. I asked Ralph, "How did it feel being up there so high?" Ralph opened his arms and these were his exact words, "Oh, you just don't know how big and beautiful this earth is until you're up there!”

The Stearns brothers were memorable and unforgettable.