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Established 1948    Abner P. Ragsdale 7 May 1913 - 29 December 1990 US Navy WWII Purple Heart & Silver Star Listed in 1930 census of the Texas State Orphanage, along with brother, Henry (His father sent all 4 brothers to orphanage after their mother died.) "Awarded for actions during the World War II - Pharmacist's Mate First Class Abner P. Ragsdale, United States Navy, was awarded the Silver Star for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action on June 15, 1944, while serving as a Corpsman attached to the Fourth Marine Division at Saipan." (http://militarytimes.com) General Orders: Bureau of Naval Medicine  Denison Herald January 3, 1991 Denison - Funeral for Abner Ragsdale of Denison, who died December 29 in Bakersfield, California were held Saturday morning at graveside in Cedarlawn Memorial Park with Rev. David Sharp of Hyde Park Presbyterian Church officiating. Johnson-MOore Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements. Ragsdale was born May 7, 1913 in Denison, son of Henry and Lula Ragsdale. He was a 1938 graduate of Austin College and continued his studies at the University of Texas, Colorado State University, East Texas State University and Mary Hardin Baylor University. He was a teacher, coach and principal for Denison schools starting in 1939. He became principal at Central Ward School in 1947, then taught and coached at Raynal and Golden Rule in addition to Central. He also taught 2 years in El Paso. He retired January 7, 1977. He frequently was called "Professor" by his students. He was an active member of the First Presbyterian Church, the Texoma Rockhounds, for which he was an organizer, and Austin College Alumni. He served with the U.S. Navy for three and a half years during World War II, where he was attached to the Marine Corps. He received the Purple Heart with five stars, the Bronze Star, the Silver Star and four Presidential unit citations. Ragsdale was an Eagle Scout and had more than 20 years service with the Boy Scouts. He was named a Distinguished Alumni of Austin College during homecoming activities in November. Memorials are suggested to the Austin College Alumni Scholars Fund. Denison Herald January 20, 1991 FORMER STUDENT REMEMBERS A.P. RAGSDALE by Jerome L. Duggan, Denton On January 5, a cold and rainy day, we buried Abner P. Ragsdale in Cedarlawn Cemetery. Mr. Ragsdale has meant a lot of things to a lot of people. He was one of Denison's most decorated war heroes, an outstanding athlete at Austin College, a teach, coach, scout master, school administrator, rock hound, collector, caretaker to the elderly and less fortunate, and mot of all a good friend. I was fortunate enough to have been present in the audience in late November when Mr. Ragsdale or "Rags" as he was fondly known, was given the Distinguished 1990 Alumni Award at Austin College. The award was given to him primarily because the university was proud of his record as a teacher, administrator, scout master, and generally a superb educator. I was also fortunate enough to have had Rags as my 8th grade coach at Central Ward School. That year probably was one of the highlights of his coaching career. As I recall, we won the city championship in every sport. Don Simpson, quarterback on our football team, was with us at the funeral. Don and I agree that Rags had a tremendous influence on our lives. As I mentioned above, he not only was our coach and teacher, but also our scout master for 2 years. This influence also was felt by many other individuals who have gone on to do tremendous things in all walks of life. Dr. Linus Wright, one of our most famous Denisonians, also was in Ragsdale's Scout troop. At the Austin College Outstanding Alumni Awards Dinner, a letter of Dr. Wright was read in which he state that Rags had been one of the most single influences that had inspired him to go on and become an educator. Terry Garland, another Denisonian, and an outstanding educator in the Denton County schools, told me the other day that Rags, as his scoutmaster, had given him a profound love of the outdoors. Terry mentioned that he had camped in every national park in the United States and just last year wrote a letter to Rags thanking him for introducing a "young" Terry to the outdoors. In my later years, my association with Rags had been one of friendship. I had stayed in touch with him through visits and phone calls. The last time I saw him was in November 1990 at Thanksgiving dinner in our home. He was looking forward to going to the desert of California to pursue his rock hound hobby. Rags has touched the lives of many different people in various ways. Our one common denominator is that we will miss him dearly; this quiet, unassuming, gentle man. Editor's note: Dr. Jerome "Jerry" Duggan graduated in 1952 from Denison High School; in 1955 received a B.S. from the University of North Texas and in 1961 a Ph.D. from Louisiana State University. He worked for 10 years for the Oak Ridge Institute of Nuclear Studies and has been a professor of physics at the University of North Texas for 18 years.   Cedarlawn Cemetery Susan Hawkins © 2024 If you find any of Grayson County TXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |