Ralph "Boonie" Lethbridge
Boonie Lethbridge - remembering a beloved resident
Ralph “Boonie” Lethbridge was a legend in Clarenville where he was known as much for his generosity as for his spectacular beard. With his larger-than-life personality, Boonie was beloved in the town and beyond. He was synonymous with the Christmas season, with people driving from far and wide to get one of his hand-sawn Christmas “Boonie trees”.
In 2016, he shaved off his iconic beard after raising $51,000 in two weeks for the ALS Society of Newfoundland and Labrador. He was inspired to raise money after his close friend Larry Boyd was diagnosed with the disease. He had lost other friends to ALS.
At the time he admitted he didn’t like his face without his 40-year-old beard but said he’d shave it all off again in a heartbeat if it would help raise money.
“Oh I got an awful fright me son, I looked about 100 years old I think, holy dying jumpings,” he told the CBC St. John’s Morning Show. “That’s the only thing I got for good looks; my beard, my teeth and my two blue eyes.”
Lethbridge received a medal of bravery from the Governor General of Canada in 1983 for saving a man from drowning in Trinity Bay.
Lethbridge was the oldest of 16 children and went on to work in a variety of fields, including as a sailor, fisherman and logger. He would also hunt and trap.
His nickname Boonie is a reference to the famous American frontiersman, Daniel Boone.
Boonie passed away suddenly at his home on December 23, 2024 at the age of 80.
He and Jenny, his loving wife of 58 years, had two children, Lori and Ralph, and three grandchildren.
Sources:
The $51,000 shave: https://youtu.be/YYWOXXaYFnc?si=maAm82XXnu7w0Rfk
