Mr. Ralph Abbott has retired from teaching after a 40 year career in public education.  For 39 of those years, he taught in the Upper Moreland School District in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania.  First assigned to the Cold Spring Elementary School, Mr. Abbott taught fourth grade for three years, and fifth grade for 14 years.  When Upper Moreland established a computer literacy program in 1988, Mr. Abbott was asked to develop and teach the program in both the Cold Spring and Round Meadow Elementary Schools.  He continued to teach the computer literacy program as it grew from teaching basic computer use with 15 Apple IIgs computers to teaching students to operate computers in today's interconnected world, and in September 2004 moved the program to the new Upper Moreland Intermediate School.   Mr. Abbott also worked on the Upper Moreland Technology Framework Committee and helped develop a K-12 business/technology curriculum for the 21st century.

Mr. Abbott attended public school in the Central Bucks School District, graduating from Central Bucks High School in 1967.  He entered Penn State University in the fall of 1967 majoring in electrical engineering.  After two years in engineering, Mr. Abbott decided that teaching was his calling and changed his major to elementary education.  He graduated in 1971 with a BS in Education degree.  Mr. Abbott entered Trenton State College (now The College of New Jersey) in 1972 and received a Master of Education degree in 1975.  He has also taken graduate courses from Penn State, Temple University, and the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit, as well as numerous in-service workshops.

In addition to teaching in the Upper Moreland schools, Mr. Abbott has a number of other interests.  He has been a licensed amateur radio operator since 1965 with the call sign WA3ELQ, and is a qualified amateur radio VE (volunteer examiner). Mr. Abbott is also an active member of the Warminster Amateur Radio Club (currently serving as past-president and VE coordinator), the Mount Airy VHF Radio Club, the Eastern PA QRP Club, and the Bucks County Amateur Radio Emergency Service.  He was a lifeguard and swimming instructor at the Fanny Chapman Pool in Doylestown, PA from 1967 to 1971, and continues to enjoy swimming, snorkeling, and underwater photography.  Mr. Abbott has also taught various after-school enrichment and sports programs for the Upper Moreland Parks and Recreation Department.  He was a volunteer staff member in Cinekyd, a local non-profit organization, where for over 29 years he taught television and video production to students from elementary school through high school.  Mr. Abbott is also active in the Warrington Fellowship Church, where he serves as a sound technician and has participated in the nursing home ministry for many years.