David T Ragland

David T. Ragland was born on June 4, 1951 in Jackson, MS, to Sidney L. Ragland and Margaret Long Ragland. He peacefully passed on January 29, 2024 surrounded by his loving family in Atlanta, GA, at the age of 72.

David grew up in the Meadowbrook Church of Christ in Jackson, MS and graduated from Murrah High School. He attended Southern Mississippi University for a year, then Mississippi State University for a semester before taking a break from school to work for his dad on a large electric power line construction project. He was profoundly grateful for what was assumed to be a clerical error that he was not drafted to Vietnam during this time.

After moving to Atlanta and gaining residency, David, in the tradition of a family of Ragland engineers, graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology with a Mechanical Engineering degree. He spent the rest of his life in the Atlanta metro area and enjoyed all that the Southeastern part of the U.S. offers as a playground. This included getting a Ph.D. from Taco Mac's Brewniversity (requiring him drinking 500 different beers, primarily at their neighborhood pub location.)

He worked for BellSouth for thirteen years before taking a leave of absence to attend Georgia State University, where he both earned an MS in Computer Information Systems and met his life partner of 38 years, Robin Bray Ragland. He returned to work at BellSouth in various roles until his early retirement in December, 2001.

He often remarked that 1990 was a very good year-GT won the National Championship in football (season ticket holder for 35 years), played in the Final Four tournament in basketball (season ticket holder for 22 years) and he and Robin bought their own lake house and got married. Robin usually replied the order in which the events were listed didn't necessarily reflect their relative importance!

David's love of the water started early when he learned to water ski at the age of seven at his family's lake house on Eagle Lake, MS. He found a kindred soul with Robin-they both loved to be looking at sunsets over the water while on the screen porch, sitting by the water on a dock or beach, camping on an island with their dogs, being on the water boating/enjoying water sports and under the water scuba diving.

He felt fortunate to have a life filled with so many fulfilling relationships and experiences. Sharing the lake house was a particular joy to him, having hosted many Ragland and Bray family reunions, as well as special experiences with visiting friends. Many were treated to shrimp boils or a tasty meal prepared on the smoker. He also had a love of animals. He shared many stories of the two monkeys he had while growing up and most people never knew him without a dog (or two) by his side.

Their scuba diving adventures took David and Robin to many destinations around the world. They also enjoyed both Ragland and Bray family reunion trips and personal domestic/international travel vacations. In addition to travel, David enjoyed working on projects to maintain and enhance their various homes, whether they be as significant as building a two-story dock for their lake house from a kit or a more modest effort such as a new fence in Atlanta.

David is survived by his wife of 33 years, Robin Ragland; his father-in-law, Bob Bray, of Kingwood, TX; his sister and brother-in-law, Lynne and Jack Bender, of Farragut, TN; brother and sister-in-law, Doug and Jewell Ragland, of Birmingham, AL; sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Beth and Richard Haines, of Astoria, OR; sister-in-law, Caren McCallister, of Houston, TX; nieces and nephews, Shannon Johnston and husband, Ron; Joel Bender and wife, Abby; Wesley Bender and wife, Leanne; Meg Wood; Amy Bickell and husband, Jason; Beth Stewart and her husband, Chris; Kristin Charles and her husband, Johny; Amy Doslich; Heather Doslich. He is survived by a host of great-nephews and nieces; and great, great nephews and nieces.