Ralph C. Stover

Ralph Chester "Smokey" Stover (2 February 1911 in Elkhart, Indiana - 24 January 2002 in Cocoa Beach, Florida) was a American veteran of the United States Army Air Corps and the United States Navy. He served in the Army Air Corps from 1932 to 1935 and served in the Navy from 1944 to 1946 serving in World War II.

Early life[]

Ralph was born in Elkhart, Indiana on 2 February 1911 to Elmer and Minnie Stover. He also had a brother named Donald. He later attended North Central College in Naperville, Illinois and also attended the University of Minnesota.

Military service[]

He served in the Army Air Corps from 1932 to 1935 before joining the Washington, D.C., Police Department in 1936. He served in the Navy from 1944 to 1946 during World War II.

Law enforcement career & Secret Service[]

After the war[]

Ralph married a girl named Teanette Pearson and they had a son and two daughters.

Secret Service[]

He joined the Secret Service Police Force in 1940 and served as chief of the group for nine years, witnessing the public and private lives of Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. Kennedy gave Stover the nickname "Smokey." The Secret Service agent was not in Dallas when Kennedy was assassinated but planned many of the details of the president's funeral procession. Stover retired from the White House force, then known as the U.S. Secret Service Uniformed Division, in 1968.

Dates of Law enforcement rank[]

1951: Corporal
1956: Sergeant
1958-1968: Major & Chief of the United States Secret Service Police Force

Death[]

Ralph passed away on 24 January 2002 from cancer at the age of 90 in Cocoa Beach, Florida.