My Great Aunt. 6th great-granddaughter of Godfrey I and Mary Ragsdale.
EULOGY
Rather than mourn and be sad for the loss of our Mother, let us have a celebration for her life and the life she has given to us.
We are grateful for the legacy she has brought to us. We should always remember what made her the strong, determined woman she was.
Mom was born in the Indian Territory and grew up moving around Oklahoma, Texas, Old Mexico and finally Colorado.
She was the oldest of seven girls and had 3 older brothers. Grandpa and Grandma Ragsdale moved around considerably - to say the least!
The point to be made today is when you turn on a water faucet and fill a glass with water remember her drinking from a tin dipper at a water bucket on some hot prairie. As you stand under your hot shower, remember how she sponged off in a water trough or a round metal wash tub. When you turn on your electric stove, remember how she cooked over a campfire or a coal and wood range and gathered buffalo chip for the fuel. (You young ones probably won't know what those are).
As you live in modern homes, remember how she grew up in sod shanties, tents, covered wagons houses with board floors and plain board walls. But they were kept in the cleanest of conditions. We all know the white tornados spotted in Oklahoma were really Olga with her cleaning mops and brooms.
When we drive to the supermarket we will remember Mother driving a team of mules, riding work horses, paint ponies, in covered wagons, stage coaches, trains pulled by steam engines - every form of transportation there is, with one exception, airplanes.
Can you imagine anyone brave enough to pull her little sister Georgie under a bed and keep her still, while a couple of Indians ransacked the house, afraid to walk up the steps of a modern airplane?
As we go to our daily tasks, we will remember her arising before daylight to go with the turkey herd as they roamed for food. Sometimes she had only a few lumps of brown sugar in her pockets for lunch and always on the lookout for rattlesnakes.
We must remember what stamina it took for an 18 year old girl to drive a team of mules hitched to a buggy clear to Fraser, Colorado from Oklahoma in 1919.
As we get discouraged or depressed with our lot in life, remember the girl from the Indian Territory who never enjoyed a single modern convenience until she was grown and had had four children. But the tine the 5th arrived, she had an electric washing machine and electric lights.
Mom had to leave two baby boys in the cemetery in Fraser - remember that as you tuck your babies in bed for the night. Feel her anguish as she always longed for their voices. Love and hug each other daily.
The greatest way we can Honor her is to grasp her spirit and be filled with the greatest love for each other - be strong and brave and decent, honest citizens - that is what she taught us for the 83 years she lived with us.
So, don't look back with sadness, raise your heads to Heaven and wish her God speed and a swift, happy journey to Paradise.
by Edith (Johnson) Henson, Oldest Daughter
EULOGY
Rather than mourn and be sad for the loss of our Mother, let us have a celebration for her life and the life she has given to us.
We are grateful for the legacy she has brought to us. We should always remember what made her the strong, determined woman she was.
Mom was born in the Indian Territory and grew up moving around Oklahoma, Texas, Old Mexico and finally Colorado.
She was the oldest of seven girls and had 3 older brothers. Grandpa and Grandma Ragsdale moved around considerably - to say the least!
The point to be made today is when you turn on a water faucet and fill a glass with water remember her drinking from a tin dipper at a water bucket on some hot prairie. As you stand under your hot shower, remember how she sponged off in a water trough or a round metal wash tub. When you turn on your electric stove, remember how she cooked over a campfire or a coal and wood range and gathered buffalo chip for the fuel. (You young ones probably won't know what those are).
As you live in modern homes, remember how she grew up in sod shanties, tents, covered wagons houses with board floors and plain board walls. But they were kept in the cleanest of conditions. We all know the white tornados spotted in Oklahoma were really Olga with her cleaning mops and brooms.
When we drive to the supermarket we will remember Mother driving a team of mules, riding work horses, paint ponies, in covered wagons, stage coaches, trains pulled by steam engines - every form of transportation there is, with one exception, airplanes.
Can you imagine anyone brave enough to pull her little sister Georgie under a bed and keep her still, while a couple of Indians ransacked the house, afraid to walk up the steps of a modern airplane?
As we go to our daily tasks, we will remember her arising before daylight to go with the turkey herd as they roamed for food. Sometimes she had only a few lumps of brown sugar in her pockets for lunch and always on the lookout for rattlesnakes.
We must remember what stamina it took for an 18 year old girl to drive a team of mules hitched to a buggy clear to Fraser, Colorado from Oklahoma in 1919.
As we get discouraged or depressed with our lot in life, remember the girl from the Indian Territory who never enjoyed a single modern convenience until she was grown and had had four children. But the tine the 5th arrived, she had an electric washing machine and electric lights.
Mom had to leave two baby boys in the cemetery in Fraser - remember that as you tuck your babies in bed for the night. Feel her anguish as she always longed for their voices. Love and hug each other daily.
The greatest way we can Honor her is to grasp her spirit and be filled with the greatest love for each other - be strong and brave and decent, honest citizens - that is what she taught us for the 83 years she lived with us.
So, don't look back with sadness, raise your heads to Heaven and wish her God speed and a swift, happy journey to Paradise.
by Edith (Johnson) Henson, Oldest Daughter
My Great Aunt. 6th great-granddaughter of Godfrey I and Mary Ragsdale.
EULOGY
Rather than mourn and be sad for the loss of our Mother, let us have a celebration for her life and the life she has given to us.
We are grateful for the legacy she has brought to us. We should always remember what made her the strong, determined woman she was.
Mom was born in the Indian Territory and grew up moving around Oklahoma, Texas, Old Mexico and finally Colorado.
She was the oldest of seven girls and had 3 older brothers. Grandpa and Grandma Ragsdale moved around considerably - to say the least!
The point to be made today is when you turn on a water faucet and fill a glass with water remember her drinking from a tin dipper at a water bucket on some hot prairie. As you stand under your hot shower, remember how she sponged off in a water trough or a round metal wash tub. When you turn on your electric stove, remember how she cooked over a campfire or a coal and wood range and gathered buffalo chip for the fuel. (You young ones probably won't know what those are).
As you live in modern homes, remember how she grew up in sod shanties, tents, covered wagons houses with board floors and plain board walls. But they were kept in the cleanest of conditions. We all know the white tornados spotted in Oklahoma were really Olga with her cleaning mops and brooms.
When we drive to the supermarket we will remember Mother driving a team of mules, riding work horses, paint ponies, in covered wagons, stage coaches, trains pulled by steam engines - every form of transportation there is, with one exception, airplanes.
Can you imagine anyone brave enough to pull her little sister Georgie under a bed and keep her still, while a couple of Indians ransacked the house, afraid to walk up the steps of a modern airplane?
As we go to our daily tasks, we will remember her arising before daylight to go with the turkey herd as they roamed for food. Sometimes she had only a few lumps of brown sugar in her pockets for lunch and always on the lookout for rattlesnakes.
We must remember what stamina it took for an 18 year old girl to drive a team of mules hitched to a buggy clear to Fraser, Colorado from Oklahoma in 1919.
As we get discouraged or depressed with our lot in life, remember the girl from the Indian Territory who never enjoyed a single modern convenience until she was grown and had had four children. But the tine the 5th arrived, she had an electric washing machine and electric lights.
Mom had to leave two baby boys in the cemetery in Fraser - remember that as you tuck your babies in bed for the night. Feel her anguish as she always longed for their voices. Love and hug each other daily.
The greatest way we can Honor her is to grasp her spirit and be filled with the greatest love for each other - be strong and brave and decent, honest citizens - that is what she taught us for the 83 years she lived with us.
So, don't look back with sadness, raise your heads to Heaven and wish her God speed and a swift, happy journey to Paradise.
by Edith (Johnson) Henson, Oldest Daughter
EULOGY
Rather than mourn and be sad for the loss of our Mother, let us have a celebration for her life and the life she has given to us.
We are grateful for the legacy she has brought to us. We should always remember what made her the strong, determined woman she was.
Mom was born in the Indian Territory and grew up moving around Oklahoma, Texas, Old Mexico and finally Colorado.
She was the oldest of seven girls and had 3 older brothers. Grandpa and Grandma Ragsdale moved around considerably - to say the least!
The point to be made today is when you turn on a water faucet and fill a glass with water remember her drinking from a tin dipper at a water bucket on some hot prairie. As you stand under your hot shower, remember how she sponged off in a water trough or a round metal wash tub. When you turn on your electric stove, remember how she cooked over a campfire or a coal and wood range and gathered buffalo chip for the fuel. (You young ones probably won't know what those are).
As you live in modern homes, remember how she grew up in sod shanties, tents, covered wagons houses with board floors and plain board walls. But they were kept in the cleanest of conditions. We all know the white tornados spotted in Oklahoma were really Olga with her cleaning mops and brooms.
When we drive to the supermarket we will remember Mother driving a team of mules, riding work horses, paint ponies, in covered wagons, stage coaches, trains pulled by steam engines - every form of transportation there is, with one exception, airplanes.
Can you imagine anyone brave enough to pull her little sister Georgie under a bed and keep her still, while a couple of Indians ransacked the house, afraid to walk up the steps of a modern airplane?
As we go to our daily tasks, we will remember her arising before daylight to go with the turkey herd as they roamed for food. Sometimes she had only a few lumps of brown sugar in her pockets for lunch and always on the lookout for rattlesnakes.
We must remember what stamina it took for an 18 year old girl to drive a team of mules hitched to a buggy clear to Fraser, Colorado from Oklahoma in 1919.
As we get discouraged or depressed with our lot in life, remember the girl from the Indian Territory who never enjoyed a single modern convenience until she was grown and had had four children. But the tine the 5th arrived, she had an electric washing machine and electric lights.
Mom had to leave two baby boys in the cemetery in Fraser - remember that as you tuck your babies in bed for the night. Feel her anguish as she always longed for their voices. Love and hug each other daily.
The greatest way we can Honor her is to grasp her spirit and be filled with the greatest love for each other - be strong and brave and decent, honest citizens - that is what she taught us for the 83 years she lived with us.
So, don't look back with sadness, raise your heads to Heaven and wish her God speed and a swift, happy journey to Paradise.
by Edith (Johnson) Henson, Oldest Daughter
Gravesite Details
Lakeside Cemetery Register courtesy of Royal Gorge Regional Museum & History, P. O. Box 1460, Canon City, CO 81215-1460 e-mail: [email protected]
Family Members
Spouse
Siblings
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Elwin Charlesworth Ragsdale
1896–1917
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Thaddeus Wilbur Ragsdale
1897–1959
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Albert Jennings "Dick" Ragsdale
1899–1972
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Georgia Viola Ragsdale Vincent
1903–1978
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Lloyd Ragsdale
1906–1906
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Ida Ann Ragsdale Kruckenberg
1907–1990
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Grace Lenora Ragsdale Garro
1910–1989
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Bessie Lee Ragsdale Huyser
1912–1996
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Ruby Ola Ragsdale Jones
1914–1989
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Ramona Harriet Ragsdale Hawk
1918–2011
