Ralph Wayne Hawkins was born to Clifford Hawkins and Lula Bell King Hawkins in Albany, Georgia on September 2, 1950. He attended school in the Dougherty County School System where he played first chair trombone in the bands in middle school and high school.  For a short period of time, he worked as a short-order cook, a brick mason, and also as a sanitation worker.

At an early age, he accepted CHRIST and joined the First Mount Olive Baptist Church under the leadership of the late Reverend James Aaron Clausell. Later in life, he joined the Alive Center (City) under the leadership of Pastor/Prophet Antonio D. Screen, Sr.  When he became ill, he was admitted as a resident of Wynfield Park Health and Rehabilitation Facility in Albany, Georgia. He was transferred to Magnolia Manor Health Facility in Midway, Georgia where he succumbed on June 5, 2023.

He was preceded in death by both parents, two sisters, Annie Hawkins and Jessie Hawkins White, two brothers, Thomas Hawkins and Eddie Hawkins, Sr.

Ralph leaves to mourn three sisters, Emma Hawkins Freeman of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Willie Clyde Hawkins Brown, and Renita Hawkins Ousley of Albany, Georgia; and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, family, and friends.