LYONS, OHIO HISTORY & PHOTOS
LYONS, OHIO HISTORY & PHOTOS
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MARKLEY, Ralph 'Gene' May 17, 2005  Toledo Blade; May 19, 2005 RALPH 'GENE' MARKLEY, 1949-2005 Volunteer worked for bike trails DELTA, Ohio - Ralph "Gene" Markley, whose volunteer work spearheaded development of bike trails over old railroad track lines across northwest Ohio, died Tuesday from injuries in a two-car accident at Airport Highway and Eber Road. He was 55. Mr. Markley's affable manner and determined effort helped create the Wabash Cannonball Trail west of Maumee for bicyclists. He also logged hours of work to begin the North Coast Inland Trail. "He was a tough go-to guy who could make things happen," said Diane Reamer-Evans, transportation project manager for the Toledo Metropolitan Council of Governments. A decade ago, when it was a tough sell to get some rural communities to accept title to abandoned railroad right-of-ways for the Wabash Cannonball Trail, Mr. Markley found a novel solution when a railroad offered to turn over 48 miles of old railroad bed. "Here was Gene and a small band of supporters who said, 'We could take ownership,' " Ms. Reamer-Evans said. "To my knowledge, nobody else in the country did that." Title was put in the name of his group, the Northwest Ohio Rails-to-Trails Association. Mr. Markley and volunteers cleared brush, graded and maintained the trail bed, repaired bridges, and patroled the area to stop littering and vandals. "Gene was a diplomat," Bonnie Markley, his wife, said. "He was convincing, not pushy. He thought he could relate to this area because this is where he was born." To help Firelands Rails-to-Trails Association acquire 15 miles of abandoned rail bed, he walked its entire length, searching for environmental problems. NORTA obtained it for the Firelands group with use of a state grant. "They saved the trail over here," said Gordon Oney, of the Firelands Rails-to-Trails Association in Huron County. Mr. Markley was a member of the advisory board for the Ohio Rails-to-Trails Conservancy. A 1967 graduate of the former Chesterfield High School in Lyons, Ohio, Mr. Markley was an engineer, working 25 years for Buckeye CableSystem. Surviving are his wife, Bonnie; parents, Arthur and Annabel Markley; sisters, Julie Fenicle and Nancy Richards, and grandmother, Bessie Todd. Services will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at Barnes Funeral Chapel, where the body will be after 2 p.m. Friday. |
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Lyons Ohio History This page was created May 19, 2005 Web page by Charles Paul Keller http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~keller/lyons/work/obit45.html
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