My Granddad was the third of eleven children born to Okey Ragsdale & Alice Calista Tousley. His parents had the pioneering spirit, traveling to Old Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas looking for work and a place to settle the family. Granddad rode his horse hundreds of miles from home to work the mines and inherited that wandering spirit from his daddy.

6th great-grandson of Godfrey I and Mary Ragsdale.

Granddad and Grandma (Mabel Opal Pittman) had a Valentine's Day 1927 wedding. They were the proud parents of three.

They were working in Happy Canyon, UT when he watched Grandma and their first grandson die in an airplane accident.

A couple of years later, Granddad remarried to a widow by the name of Mrs. Martha Bowen on April 12, 1954 in Aztec, NM and helped rear her young teenage son, Gene; the marriage didn't last but a few years.

When I was in the 5th grade, this wonderful Granddad bought me my first very own store-bought outfit. It was one he brought back from Mexico and I'll tell you I thought I was the coolest thing finally wearing a skirt & blouse right out of a store. I think I held on to the outfit so our daughter could play dress-up when she was a little girl.

In his later years, when crippling arthritis took its toll, Granddad lived several months at a time with his three children. We kids loved it because he was so much fun to be around. He loved the outdoors and was always willing to referee for us, be it a street baseball game or a game of racing down the driveway.

My Granddad loved to hunt & fish and passed that love along to his children and grandchildren. He left me his rifle and a video of a 1937 hunting trip which has been handed down to one of our sons.

Granddad is mourned by six granddaughters and one grandson; in which he spoiled us rotten. He was a great person and is sorely missed by all. Love you Granddad!