Ralph Douglas Dempsey

Ralph Douglas "Doug" Dempsey, named for his maternal grandfather, was born October 31, 1967 in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. He had resided in Centerton, Arkansas, and died in Columbia, Missouri January 3, 2020. He was preceded in death by his brother, Joseph Peyton "Joey" Dempsey, Jr. He is survived by his parents, Joe Dempsey and Rosalee Scott; his stepmother, Patricia Glover Dempsey, a brother Robert Lee Dempsey; and his daughters, Alexa Dempsey, Riley Dempsey Michalik (Zach), Elizabeth Dempsey, Erin Dempsey, and Allison Dempsey. He was educated in Pine Bluff and graduated from Pine Bluff High School. He graduated later from Arkansas State University and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army. He was first stationed at Ft. Lee, Virginia where he graduated from the United States Army Quartermaster Officers School. Upon graduation, he was posted to Ft. Polk, Louisiana. While at Ft. Polk, he was webmaster for the post's Y2K preparation. Following his duties at Fort Polk, he was reassigned to Fort Lee. From Fort Lee he was assigned for a tour of duty as a member of the United States Army contingent of the United Nations peacekeeping force in the Sinai Peninsula. At the conclusion of this tour, he returned to Fort Lee, left active duty and joined the Army Reserve in Northwest Arkansas. During his Army Reserve service, he became Airborne qualified, graduating from the United States Army Parachute School. He was a second-generation paratrooper. His father pinned his wings at jump school graduation. He later attended and graduated from the United States Army Rigger School at Fort Lee. His reserve unit was twice deployed to tours of duty in Iraq and in 2014 was deployed to Dijbouti, Africa. Upon his return from Africa, he joined the 362nd Psychological Operations Company and in 2014, he was named commanding officer of the unit. In 2019, he retired from the Army Reserve with the rank of Major and moved to Columbia, Missouri. Doug's civilian career was in Information Technology. He worked in the IT departments of Wal-Mart and most recently Tyson Foods, where he was an enterprise inventory management coordinator. In that position, he traveled to Tyson plants to implement SAP enterprise procedures and train company personnel. A celebration of life will be conducted at Fuller Hale-South Funeral Home in Pine Bluff Friday, January 17 with a visitation period at 9 a.m. and a funeral service following at 10 a.m. A committal and military honors service will be held at 1 p.m. at the Arkansas Veteran's Cemetery in North Little Rock. On-line condolences may be made at www.FullerFunerals.com.