William Louis Ripley II

William Louis Ripley, II, Ph.D. William Louis Ripley (Bill) died on September 5, 2006 at his home in Lucerne, California. He was born on February 23, 1945 at Elgin Air Force Base in Florida. He was 61 years old. Bill was a writer and teacher with degrees from Harvard (AB), The University of Texas, El Paso (MA) and The University of Utah (Ph.D.). In 1988 Atlantic Monthly Press published his novel "Prisoners" and in the same year he received a Dobie Paisano fellowship from the Texas Institute of Letters. Following the death of his father, Army Air Force pilot Major William Louis Ripley in 1946, Bill was raised in Mason, Texas by his mother Harriett Runge Ripley McVicker and his maternal grandparents Roscoe and Ruth Runge. His mother and the family later moved to Denver, Colorado where she then married Roy McVicker, a US Congressman. His grandparents, mother and stepfather all precede him in death. Bill is survived by his wife Martha Ball Ripley, of Lucerne, California; by son, Brandon Ripley, his wife Iris Aguilar, and grandson, Leandro Ripley, of Orange, California; by son, Jerome Ripley of Santa Barbara, California; by sister, Theresa Ripley Holden, her husband Michael Holden, nephew William R, Holden of Austin, Texas, niece Anne Holden of Portland, Oregon; and by sister Elizabeth McVicker and her husband Craig Steinmetz of Denver, Colorado. Bill touched the lives of hundreds across the whole country with his great intellect, larger than life sense of humor and intense passion for life and the people he knew and loved. A celebration of his life will be held at his family's ranch near Mason, Texas on October 28, 2006.