Ralph Bassett Obituary

Long-time Gulfport resident and Navy veteran Ralph Edward Bassett died peacefully in his sleep, reclining on his favorite chair at home on August 30, 2025. Ralph was handy with tools and loved to help people with home repairs. He was a lover of classical music, particularly opera and Christmas carols played by brass ensembles at deafening volumes. He loved crossword puzzles, and groan-inducing pun humor. He was an avid reader of Clive Cussler and Tom Clancy novels, and his favorite story was Charles Dickens's "A Christmas Carol." More on that later.

A life-long passion for the spirit of Christmas commenced when Ralph was born on Christmas Day, 1944 to singers Glenn W. Bassett and Hazel C. Bassett (Budworth) in Long Beach, California. Raised by musicians and musical educators, music was foundational to his life. A gifted boy soprano as was his father before him, Ralph sang with his parents from an early age and learned to play the guitar and trumpet at the G. Willard Bassett Voice Studios operated by his parents out of the family home in Santa Ana, California. After graduating from Santa Ana High School, Ralph attended nearby Chapman College and worked as a lineman for Southern California Edison before enlisting in the Navy.

At 21 years of age, Ralph enlisted in the U.S. Navy where he proudly served 2 years of active duty as a Naval Hospital Corpsman during the Vietnam War. After being honorably discharged, he returned to his home town and his musical roots employing the voice that had developed into a powerful bass-baritone to pursue a career in opera. He married Margaret Webb, née Sisk in 1971 and together the couple founded Orange County Opera, whose mission was to bring opera education to elementary schools. Founded in 1976, Orange County Opera introduced hundreds of thousands of children to comic operas every year for over 40 years in addition to launching the careers of countless young artists. Ralph and Margaret's marriage lasted twelve years and the couple raised a son together in addition to Margaret's two sons and one daughter from her previous marriage.

Accepted to the prestigious San Francisco Opera Merola Opera Training Program in 1973, Ralph sang leading roles with opera companies all over the West Coast throughout the mid-1970s in addition to his work with Orange County Opera. He joined the Central City, Colorado, Bonfils-Stanton Artists Training Program as an apprentice artist in 1977, where his uniquely powerful voice gained the attention of New York City Opera's musical director, Julius Rudel. Ralph won auditions with both Munich Opera and New York City Opera in 1978, and Maestro Rudel was instrumental in convincing Ralph to move his family to New York City where he was to become City Opera's heir-apparent to Samuel Ramey. Ralph had a long successful career with City Opera, singing in Lincoln Center and traveling to opera houses all over the world, performing in many nationally televised "Live from Lincoln Center" performances, and appearing in a City Opera cast performance of "Carmen" within the 1977 film "Fun with Dick and Jane." Ralph's voice would be remembered for its astounding power with an ability to carry to the farthest reaches of any opera house.

It was City Opera that introduced Ralph to the great love of his life, Catherine Williams. Ralph and Catherine began dating in 1985 and married in 1988 during a break between performances in Saratoga Springs, New York. Married on Father's Day, Ralph's son, William, was best man for the nuptials, and the entire City Opera cast was in attendance to celebrate the couple's vows and serenade the couple with a magnificent kazoo performance of "One Kiss" from the operetta "New Moon." After nearly 40 years of marriage, only death could separate them.

In 1989, Ralph and Catherine grew tired of the repeating artist strikes afflicting City Opera, and chose to leave New York City and the opera world behind to own and operate a motel on the beach in Treasure Island, Florida. Ralph remodeled the rooms in the hotel and he and Cathy managed the hotel until 1995, at which point they purchased a home in a depressed neighborhood in nearby Gulfport. After remodeling the home, they began purchasing and remodeling many of the homes in the neighborhood leading to a revitalization of the neighborhood.

He is survived by his wife, Catherine; his son, William Bassett; and his two grandchildren Sophia (16), and Andrew (12). William is a biotech manufacturing systems engineer in Davis, California who inherited a great love of opera from his father and his grandchildren are brilliant young minds who may yet develop a taste for their grandfather's art.

Christmas was always a special day for Ralph. He shared his birthday with the most significant American holiday gleefully and celebrated with all. He believed strongly that the proper way to ring in the day was with a Christmas Eve viewing of Alistair Sim's Scrooge, properly timed so that the ghost of Christmas present appeared at midnight. Much like Ebeneezer Scrooge after his great redemption, it was always said of Ralph Bassett, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge.