Ralph Yates

[Tom Scully]

Since July 24, there has been no response to this... is the lack of interest an indication of closed minds? You know what you know, but is there no inclination to know more?

Ralph Yates was born into circumstances that contributed immediately to a tough row for him to hoe. The first part of the poem (linked below) attributed to him as he was losing his grip (according to the official record, the only record of Ralph Yates's statements and behavior compiled and filed in near real time) is quite telling and in synch with his family history.

http://www.deathreference.com/Py-Se/Repl...ldren.html
Encyclopedia of Death and Dying

.....This baby is thought to be at risk for later psychological difficulties because of an inability to form an identity separate from the dead child. It is thought that parents who are unable to fully and completely mourn the death of their child may compromise a subsequent child's mental health by imbuing that child with the qualities and characteristics of the dead sibling and by continuing to mourn the earlier death......

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I've studied the statements attributed to Yates and his wife in late 1963 through early 1964, and I've been able to verify every detail I picked from them that has turned into a researchable lead, including two in the poem attributed to Yates as he allegedly slipped into incoherence.

I probably know more details about Yates's mother, described by him as Bernice Gordon, than anyone who has researched this. His paternal grandmother died from cancer in 1959, as is attributed to Yates in the poem. Yates's mother was pregnant with Ralph eight months before he was born when his older brother died suddenly of unexplainable convulsions at the age of six months. Yates's paternal grandfather was recorded living in Evanston, IL in the 1940 US Census.......