Rita Ratcliff Thompson

RITA RATCLIFF THOMPSON, AGE 72

AUSTIN, TEXAS

COX FUNERAL HOME

OAK GROVE, LOUISIANA

Celebration of life services for Rita Ratcliff Thompson 72, of Austin, Texas, departed this life peacefully July 31, 2025. Born in Oak Grove, Louisiana, Rita was the beloved only daughter and last born child of the late Harvey and Audell Ratcliff and a 1971 graduate of Oak Grove High School.

Rita had a joyful and sometimes even boisterously positive personality. Many of her nieces, nephews and friends of her daughters referred to her as "the fun one." Rita could liven up any holiday, birthday and any occasion for a celebration, or just a random day. She had themed earrings for everything!

Over the past 20 or so years, she loved the life she built with her dear husband Dean - spending time in their backyard garden in Austin, going out to Tex-Mex dinners, fishing on the Texas gulf coast, visiting family, and watching their grandchildren grow. Although she cooked less as time passed, many will remember her baking contributions either at family gatherings or if you were lucky to share a classroom with one of her daughters. She loved to cook and was always willing to make a German chocolate cake for a birthday celebration. She also always donated a dracula cake to the cake walk at the Fall Festival at Forest High School, and it was always one of the first cakes picked.

Rita will also be remembered as a dedicated team Mom, shuttling basketball and softball teams across the Ark-La-Miss, keeping meticulous books on softball stats, and always cheering her daughters on from the sidelines throughout their high school and summer All Stars careers. Rita herself had played softball and passed on the love for the sport as soon as each of her daughters was old enough to register for t-ball on the West Carroll Dixie Youth summer teams in Oak Grove. They each went on to play through high school and into adulthood.

These, like so many more of life's simple blessings that we learned by knowing and loving Rita, are the things we will carry with us.

Rita is survived by her husband, Dean Thompson of Shreveport, Louisiana; daughter and husband Katrina and Colby Roberts and three granddaughters of Monkton, Vermont; daughter and husband Cathy and Jeff Miller and two grandsons of Sugar Grove, North Carolina; daughter Lynn Kirby and grandpuppy Aura (15) of Honolulu, Hawaii; and stepdaughter and husband Becky and Shane Pilkington and two granddaughters of Shreveport, Louisiana; sister-in-law Jean Weaver Ratcliff of Abbeville, Mississippi; sister-in-law Maggie Easterling Ratcliff of Oak Grove, Louisiana; sister-in-law Shirley Ratcliff of Oak Grove, Louisiana; brother-in-law and wife Ross and Cathi Thompson of Monroe, Louisiana; brother-in-law and wife Michael "Mike" and Bessie Thompson of Monroe, Louisiana; and brother-in-law and wife Clint and Douglas Thompson of Mountain Brook, Alabama; and sister-in-law and husband Lea and Paul Holubec of Austin, Texas; and sister-in-law, Jo Thompson of West Monroe, Louisiana; and many nieces, nephews, great nieces and great nephews.

She is preceded in death by her father, Harvey Elmo Ratcliff; her mother, Audell Cullever Ratcliff; mother-in-law Gail Stewart Thompson; her stepson Sean Thompson; her three brothers Tom (Clifford) Ratcliff, Jerry Ratcliff, and Larry Ratcliff; brother-in-law Grady Thompson; and nephews Jerry Todd Ratcliff and Thomas Brian Ratcliff.