Obituary published in The Meridian Star - September 28, 1983
Services Set for Ralph McNair
Graveside services will be held Thursday at 11 a.m. at Memorial Park Cemetery for long-time Meridian Police Detective Ralph McNair, who died early today at Rush Hospital. The Rev. David McCubbin will officiate.
McNair, 67, had served 38 years with the police department when he retired in 1981 as an identification officer with the detective bureau.
Mrs. Marie Knowles, the department secretary who worked with McNair for 16 years said today "you could always depend on him to lighten things up. He seemed to add a lot of dignity to the place that is not here anymore."
And Assistant Chief Glen Miller said today McNair was "very intelligent. As far as I know he had no enemies."
McNair had played professional baseball before starting with the police department and was honored as Officer of the Year by the Optimist Club in 1979.
In 1942, McNair was critically injured in a shoot-out with the FBI's Public Enemy No. 1, Charles Chapman. He sustained three gunshot wounds in the battle on Meridian streets. But although Chapman eluded authorities at the time, he was tracked down by police and killed by a squad of submachine gun-toting FBI agents a month after his battle with McNair. The Meridian officer was just beginning to recuperate from his wounds when the federal officers called on him to identify Chapman's bullet-ridden body. Ten years after that incident, in 1952, McNair was promoted to the detective bureau.
He was a member of the Fraternal Order of Police, the Mississippi Peace Officers Association and the Mississippi-Tennessee Peace Officers Association. He attended the FBI Academy and the Police Institute of the University of Louisville (KY).
McNair is survived by his wife, Mrs. Mildred McNair; a daughter, Mrs. Tatia Ann Harding, New York City, NY; two sisters, Miss Nelle McNair, Meridian and Mrs. Alice Joyce Hawkins, Dalewood; and two granddaughters.
Visitation will be at Webb Funeral Home today from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.
The family has requested that memorials be made to the American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society or to a favorite charity.
Services Set for Ralph McNair
Graveside services will be held Thursday at 11 a.m. at Memorial Park Cemetery for long-time Meridian Police Detective Ralph McNair, who died early today at Rush Hospital. The Rev. David McCubbin will officiate.
McNair, 67, had served 38 years with the police department when he retired in 1981 as an identification officer with the detective bureau.
Mrs. Marie Knowles, the department secretary who worked with McNair for 16 years said today "you could always depend on him to lighten things up. He seemed to add a lot of dignity to the place that is not here anymore."
And Assistant Chief Glen Miller said today McNair was "very intelligent. As far as I know he had no enemies."
McNair had played professional baseball before starting with the police department and was honored as Officer of the Year by the Optimist Club in 1979.
In 1942, McNair was critically injured in a shoot-out with the FBI's Public Enemy No. 1, Charles Chapman. He sustained three gunshot wounds in the battle on Meridian streets. But although Chapman eluded authorities at the time, he was tracked down by police and killed by a squad of submachine gun-toting FBI agents a month after his battle with McNair. The Meridian officer was just beginning to recuperate from his wounds when the federal officers called on him to identify Chapman's bullet-ridden body. Ten years after that incident, in 1952, McNair was promoted to the detective bureau.
He was a member of the Fraternal Order of Police, the Mississippi Peace Officers Association and the Mississippi-Tennessee Peace Officers Association. He attended the FBI Academy and the Police Institute of the University of Louisville (KY).
McNair is survived by his wife, Mrs. Mildred McNair; a daughter, Mrs. Tatia Ann Harding, New York City, NY; two sisters, Miss Nelle McNair, Meridian and Mrs. Alice Joyce Hawkins, Dalewood; and two granddaughters.
Visitation will be at Webb Funeral Home today from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.
The family has requested that memorials be made to the American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society or to a favorite charity.
Obituary published in The Meridian Star - September 28, 1983
Services Set for Ralph McNair
Graveside services will be held Thursday at 11 a.m. at Memorial Park Cemetery for long-time Meridian Police Detective Ralph McNair, who died early today at Rush Hospital. The Rev. David McCubbin will officiate.
McNair, 67, had served 38 years with the police department when he retired in 1981 as an identification officer with the detective bureau.
Mrs. Marie Knowles, the department secretary who worked with McNair for 16 years said today "you could always depend on him to lighten things up. He seemed to add a lot of dignity to the place that is not here anymore."
And Assistant Chief Glen Miller said today McNair was "very intelligent. As far as I know he had no enemies."
McNair had played professional baseball before starting with the police department and was honored as Officer of the Year by the Optimist Club in 1979.
In 1942, McNair was critically injured in a shoot-out with the FBI's Public Enemy No. 1, Charles Chapman. He sustained three gunshot wounds in the battle on Meridian streets. But although Chapman eluded authorities at the time, he was tracked down by police and killed by a squad of submachine gun-toting FBI agents a month after his battle with McNair. The Meridian officer was just beginning to recuperate from his wounds when the federal officers called on him to identify Chapman's bullet-ridden body. Ten years after that incident, in 1952, McNair was promoted to the detective bureau.
He was a member of the Fraternal Order of Police, the Mississippi Peace Officers Association and the Mississippi-Tennessee Peace Officers Association. He attended the FBI Academy and the Police Institute of the University of Louisville (KY).
McNair is survived by his wife, Mrs. Mildred McNair; a daughter, Mrs. Tatia Ann Harding, New York City, NY; two sisters, Miss Nelle McNair, Meridian and Mrs. Alice Joyce Hawkins, Dalewood; and two granddaughters.
Visitation will be at Webb Funeral Home today from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.
The family has requested that memorials be made to the American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society or to a favorite charity.
Services Set for Ralph McNair
Graveside services will be held Thursday at 11 a.m. at Memorial Park Cemetery for long-time Meridian Police Detective Ralph McNair, who died early today at Rush Hospital. The Rev. David McCubbin will officiate.
McNair, 67, had served 38 years with the police department when he retired in 1981 as an identification officer with the detective bureau.
Mrs. Marie Knowles, the department secretary who worked with McNair for 16 years said today "you could always depend on him to lighten things up. He seemed to add a lot of dignity to the place that is not here anymore."
And Assistant Chief Glen Miller said today McNair was "very intelligent. As far as I know he had no enemies."
McNair had played professional baseball before starting with the police department and was honored as Officer of the Year by the Optimist Club in 1979.
In 1942, McNair was critically injured in a shoot-out with the FBI's Public Enemy No. 1, Charles Chapman. He sustained three gunshot wounds in the battle on Meridian streets. But although Chapman eluded authorities at the time, he was tracked down by police and killed by a squad of submachine gun-toting FBI agents a month after his battle with McNair. The Meridian officer was just beginning to recuperate from his wounds when the federal officers called on him to identify Chapman's bullet-ridden body. Ten years after that incident, in 1952, McNair was promoted to the detective bureau.
He was a member of the Fraternal Order of Police, the Mississippi Peace Officers Association and the Mississippi-Tennessee Peace Officers Association. He attended the FBI Academy and the Police Institute of the University of Louisville (KY).
McNair is survived by his wife, Mrs. Mildred McNair; a daughter, Mrs. Tatia Ann Harding, New York City, NY; two sisters, Miss Nelle McNair, Meridian and Mrs. Alice Joyce Hawkins, Dalewood; and two granddaughters.
Visitation will be at Webb Funeral Home today from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.
The family has requested that memorials be made to the American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society or to a favorite charity.
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