Ralph Way grew up the youngest of seven children of Quakers Darlington & Ina Way, second-generation owners of Way Fruit Farm, which still thrives today in Halfmoon Valley. Ralph attended grades 1st-3rd in Matternville and grades 4th-6th in Stormstown, with his sister Rebecca as his 4th grade teacher. Rebecca was 12 and the only sister among six brothers when Ralph was born, so she helped to care for him. They remain close today, enjoying visits at her home near Lancaster (Rebecca is 103!). From grades 7th-12th, Ralph attended State High at the Fairmount Building.
After graduating from high school, Ralph worked for several years as a milk tester at Penn State then, in 1955, signed up for two years of service for the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker-founded organization with service projects around the world. When a project he was assigned to in India fell through, Ralph traveled to Kenya and embarked on a project that would shape his life and career: serving as co-leader to build a Quaker mission hospital. During this transformative experience, Ralph learned both building skills and leadership skills that served as the foundation for his future contributions to the State College area.
Following the project in Kenya, Ralph traveled to Vienna, Austria, to complete the final few months of his service. On this project—preparing a warehouse of clothing for Hungarian refugees—Ralph had another life-changing encounter. He met his Kamilla. They were married in Vienna in 1957. They moved to the U.S., and by the fall of 1958, they’d built their first home—which became Ralph Way House Number One—near Matternville.
In 1959, Ralph Way House Number Two was built and sold, giving Ralph the resources to purchase more lots and keep building and selling homes. Between 1959 and 1976, Ralph and Kamilla continued to build homes and added larger developments to their building portfolio, including Manor Court, Manor Way, and Nuway townhouses. The young family, by then with son Andrew and daughters Ingrid and Ericka, also completed a two-year project in Zambia with the American Friends Service Committee. In 1980, Ralph and his crew completed a new State College Friends Meetinghouse on Prospect Avenue in State College borough.
If you’re thinking that the Way family lived quite a busy life, you’d be right. Ralph’s daughter Ericka said that her parents shared an industrious spirit that they passed on to their children. Combined with their commitment to serving others, it’s no surprise that their next project continues to make a remarkable impact.
In 1985, Ralph’s father’s sister was living in a Quaker-directed retirement community near Philadelphia where the Way family often visited. In conversations with fellow members of the Friends Meeting in State College, they began discussing the possibility of building a similar Quaker-directed continuing care and retirement community in State College.
Ralph and Kamilla already owned several acres of land previously known as the Dale Farm, which they had purchased in the early 1980s. They agreed to use that land for the retirement community and to take a sizable line of credit against the value of their townhouses to finance the construction. After breaking ground in 1987, some cottages were already completed and occupied by the fall of 1998. In September of 1990, Foxdale Village celebrated its official opening.
Management of Foxdale was a family affair, led by Ralph and Kamilla with help from their children. Today, the facility that “began in 1985 as the dream of some members of the State College Friends Meeting” now offers residential living in 148 cottage homes and a 57-apartment-home building connected to Foxdale’s Community Center.
Kamilla passed away in March 2023. Ralph said that in addition to his family and his role in making Foxdale Village a reality, he is most proud of his work ethic and everything that it helped him accomplish in both business and service to others.
Reflections on State High:
Ralph recalls joining the football team but struggling to get rides home to the farm after practice. After a few weeks of getting dropped off at Carson’s Corner (the intersection of 322 and 550) and walking the rest of the way, he quit. He also remembers 12th grade chemistry with Mr. Shadle who Ralph said, “made the subject interesting,” which helped him do well in class.
A love for travel and adventure:
In addition to their dedication to their business and their service trips, Ralph and Kamilla shared a love for travel and adventure. They had two planes, a boat, and a motor home, the latter of which was Kamilla’s favorite way to travel. Every other year, they went to Austria to visit Kamilla’s mother in Vienna and took many friends along over the years.
Ralph earned his pilot license and flew to Alaska and Europe with his son Andy, a fellow pilot friend and the friend’s son. He has some spectacular and hilarious memories from these journeys.
Of all the places he’s traveled, Ralph said Vienna was his favorite, as the place he met and married Kamilla and where they spent many years after with family and friends.
Special thanks to Doug Miller who wrote and shared, “The Housing Legacy of Ralph, Kamilla, and Andy Way” dated 7/31/23, from which portions of this profile were written.
