Robert (Bob) Joseph Ratcliffe passed away on January 20, 2026, just hours shy of his 86th birthday. He was born on January 21, 1940 to Mary Louise Brown and Joseph Leinson Ratcliffe at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, DC. Bob grew up in Washington, DC and Silver Spring, MD in a very strict Catholic family. He worked after school and on the weekends at local grocery stores so he could earn enough money to pay for his schooling at John Carroll Catholic High School. In 1961, he enlisted in the Navy, where he was stationed in Jacksonville, FL on the USS Shangri-La (CV-38), a World War II Essex-class aircraft carrier that was part of the blockade during the Cuban Crisis. One of Bob’s primary roles was directing the take-off and landing of jets leaving for missions. He was meticulous about his uniform and took great pride in his military service.

After his active service with the Navy ended, he earned his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Maryland – College Park’s College of Physical Education, Recreation and Health in 1967. Bob met his future wife, Jackie, the year before he graduated with a master’s degree from New Mexico Highlands University, and they married in July 1969. Dawn Marie, their only child, was born a few years later. While teaching physical education and driver’s education to special needs and at-risk youth at Rock Terrace School for nine years, he coached wrestling at Damascus and John F. Kennedy High Schools, played touch football, and was active with the Rockville Jaycees. In 1977, he and his family moved to Myrtle Beach, SC, where they ran a food truck and he cleaned carpets before working in general real estate for several years.

In 1987, Bob began his 30-year career with Ryland Homes, first as a salesperson, and after retirement, as a sales assistant. Bob volunteered for the Disabled American Veterans Transport crew for the VA in Salisbury, NC for eleven years. He gave over 800 combined blood and platelet donations over the course of almost four decades and cared for several cats over a 50-year span. He loved gardening, bicycling, lifting weights, maintaining a beautiful yard, listening to oldies, and binge watching movies and television series. Bob was a life-long Catholic who attended mass regularly. He enjoyed the many day trips he took with his daughter and wife upon moving to Arizona and started swimming daily during the warmer months.

He is preceded in death by his parents, Joseph and Mary, sister Catherine, Sam Cowden, Frank Duchesne, Richard Kimmel, Jerry Ward, friends (especially John Cabigas), and several cats. He is survived by his wife, Jackie Ratcliffe, his daughter and only child, Dawn Ratcliffe (Brett Barnes), his sisters, Pat Duchesne, Jackie Cowden, and Chris Wenzel (Mike), his brother Bill (Amy), sixteen nieces and nephews, other extended family members, friends (especially Ed, Anna, and family, Elizabeth, Howard, Keith, Sally and Mike, Trevor, Don and Sharon, and Jenny, Stacy and family), so many more people whom he cared about, and his cats.

A Mass in dad’s honor will be on Friday, February 13, 2026 at 10:00 a.m. at Corpus Christi Catholic Church (3550 E. Knox Rd., Phoenix, AZ 85044) followed by a reception in the Parish Center. Dad’s funeral will follow at 2:00 p.m. at the National Memorial Cemetery of Arizona (2929 E. Pinnacle Rd., Phoenix, AZ 85024). Another reception will take place in the evening at a private residence. All are welcome, and included here are Facebook Live events (links: mass and funeral) for those who cannot attend in person. Celebrations of Life will also be held in Charlotte, NC (Thursday, May 14, 2026 from 5:00 - 9:00 p.m. at the U.S. National Whitewater Center) and in the MD/DC area (Sunday, May 17, 2026 time and location TBD), with more information available later. In lieu of flowers, donations in Bob Ratcliffe’s memory may be made to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul - Phoenix and the Disabled American Veterans Charitable Service Trust.

DAD’S MINI AUTOBIOGRAPHY/DETAILED OBITUARY

This incredibly detailed and uncharacteristically long, AI-free mini autobiography/detailed obituary is what happens when my folks made reading the Sunday Morning paper part of our family’s routine beginning when I was in elementary school, with emphasis on the feature articles. Many thanks to dad’s siblings and mom for help with information for this obituary and so much more in terms of the support they provided, especially the countless hours that Aunt Chris spent walking me through his medical conditions and how best to proceed with his health care over the last two years. And a big thank you to Uncle Bill for being an awesome younger brother to my dad as well as the love and support from his older sisters, Aunt Jackie and Aunt Pat.

Robert (Bob) Joseph Ratcliffe passed away on January 20, 2026, just hours shy of his 86th birthday. He was born on January 21, 1940 to Mary Louise Brown and Joseph Leinson Ratcliffe at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, DC. He grew up in Washington, DC and Silver Spring, MD in a very strict Catholic family. Dad loved playing with his two older sisters and he particularly loved the outdoors, including sledding down snow-covered hills near his house and venturing into Sligo Creek Park (Silver Spring, MD) year around. Dad loved accompanying his father in search of the perfect Christmas tree. He was mischievous and found himself in trouble on more than one occasion.

His near claim to fame happened in 1952, when at the age of 13, he was an extra in the Helen Hayes movie My Son John. Although his scene, which was filmed in St. John The Evangelist Catholic Church in Silver Spring, MD, was cut, it enabled him to secure a work permit, autographs, and $15 per day for two days, which was significantly more than his soon to-be positions at Bells Supermarket (55-57), CO-OP (58-61) and Giant Foods (63-37), which started at 50 cents an hour. He worked after school and on weekends so he could earn enough money to pay for his schooling at John Carroll Catholic High School, where he hitchhiked to and from school every day. Prior to Bells, he had the obligatory paper route growing up.

On November 27, 1961, he enlisted in the Navy, where after recruit training at the U.S. Naval Training Center in Great Lakes, Illinois, dad was stationed in Jacksonville, FL on the USS Shangri-La (CV-38), a famous World War II Essex-class aircraft carrier that was part of the blockade during the Cuban Crisis. One of dad’s primary roles was directing the take-off and landing of jets leaving for missions. He was meticulous about his uniform and took great pride in his military service. According to his brother Bill, dad continued his weight training by lifting bombs in lieu of weights since they were not available on the ship, and earned the reputation as someone you didn’t want to cross.

After leaving the Navy, he started working at Giant in stocking and management positions while simultaneously taking courses at the University of Maryland – College Park. Although dad did not have the time growing up to play team sports, he developed a love for boxing that lasted throughout his entire life, and boxed briefly at the University of Maryland. He continued active duty through September 1963 as rank Ak3 (E-4), and was honorably released to inactive duty, which ended on October 8, 1967. During the summer of 1964, dad was hired as a police officer in Wildwood, New Jersey with no previous experience and minimal training, which he marveled at in hindsight. He loved the action during that summer, but would always tell me that he gave people the benefit of a doubt and was a fair police officer.

Dad earned his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Maryland’s College of Physical Education, Recreation and Health in January 1967. He wanted to get a master’s degree but was not fond of school so he moved to Las Vegas, NM to attend New Mexico Highlands University, which offered a master’s degree in less than one-and-a-half years. While working at the Las Vegas Safeway, dad was introduced to Jacqueline (Jackie) Blanchard by his supervisor, and bagged her groceries. Later that day, mom told one of her sisters that she met the man she would marry.

While at Highlands University, he wrestled and advanced to the conference championships, relying on only one move due to his sheer strength. After earning a Master of Arts degree with a major in Physical Education and minor in Education in 1968, dad took a position with Rock Terrace School in Rockville, MD from 1968 to 1977. At Rock Terrace, he taught physical education to students with disabilities and at-risk students. He filled his summers teaching drivers education at various high Schools. He had several supervisors whom he admired and enjoyed working with over the course of his life, but Dr. Monk, the principal at Rock Terrace during dad’s tenure, was his favorite, and according to dad, one of the first black leaders in education in the 1960s in the MD/DC area.

Dad was active with the Rockville Jaycees in the early 1970s, and was presented with several awards during his tenure including the Outstanding Young Educator Award, the Committee of the Year (Special Olympics), and Outstanding External Committee Chairman. In addition, he taught driver’s education at John F. Kennedy and Montgomery Blair High Schools, and physical education at the former from 1976-77. Dad also coached a local softball team during the mid-1970s and enjoyed playing touch football with his brother in an adult league for several years.

Mom and dad married on July 5, 1969 in Albuquerque, NM and built a house in the then rural Damascus, MD. He developed quite a green thumb, creating an impressive garden yielding tomatoes, peppers, squash, and tons of other veggies. In 1972, dad’s love affair with cats began, welcoming Charlie Cat, a beautiful but feisty calico kitten into the family. He would reminisce frequently about Charlie Cat going on to win several awards at the Montgomery County Fair sans congeniality as she swatted and hissed at anyone who tried to pet her. Shortly after Charlie Cat’s entrance into their lives, I (Dawn Marie) was born. My dad’s love of Charlie resulted in her name being one of the first words I spoke, and the first of many cats who dad would bring into our lives.

As much as I have always shared an extremely close-knit relationship with my mom, I was a daddy’s girl for the first couple decades of my life. While dad and mom both read to me from my large collection of books, including the entire Little House on the Prairie book set, dad also told me stories about the fictional Sam the Dog that he created. Sam would perform all kinds of heroic feats and was rewarded with a steak dinner at the end of each story. I loved this nightly ritual and attribute my love of reading at a young age to my parents.

I would ride on dad’s lap on the John Deer lawn mower as he cut his expansive lawn in Damascus and hung out with him when he tended to the garden. I accompanied him to several wrestling meets, where he coached at Damascus High School from 1971 to 1975 and at John F. Kennedy High School from 1976 to 1977. While coaching wrestling, dad befriended Chuck Barton and his wife, Marianne, a friendship that would carry into their mutual moves to South Carolina.

In the fall of 1977, dad moved our little family to Myrtle Beach, SC, more specifically Surfside Beach, where we initially rented a home just blocks from the ocean, before settling down in a house two blocks from Highway 17 until 1982. Shortly after our arrival in SC, my folks ran a food truck that mostly frequented construction sites. Dad also cleaned carpets while getting his real estate license, eventually working for one of the Sands Beach Clubs, followed by selling general real estate for Berry Realty. He had a laugh box he would sometimes push when talking with prospective customers, which usually resulted in laughs after the initial bewilderment wore off. Mom and dad would take turns bringing me to work with them over the summers and holiday breaks. When not working, dad loved going to the beach with me and mom. He and I would swim and ride the waves into shore for hours at a time, and when I was younger, he would go underwater and have me step on his hands, which were on the ocean floor, and then launch me into the air. While at home, I loved when he would position himself on his back, extend his legs straight into the air, and I would place my stomach on his feet, put my arms out, and pretend I was flying.

On the weekends, whenever possible, dad and I attended mass together at St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Garden City, SC and were frequent visitors to Brookgreen Gardens and Huntington Beach State Park. When I first started playing soccer in fourth grade, my dad would join my mom for as many of my soccer games as he could work into his real estate schedule. (His active involvement in my athletics continued into college). We played badminton and croquet during the warmer months while enjoying our fair share of sweet tea with mint, the latter of which grows like wildfire in the South, and our yard was no exception. During that same year, we moved into Deerfield Plantation along one of the finger lakes. He planted flowers and tried his hand at banana trees, which eventually produced mini bananas. Dad set up a bird seed station in the backyard, which attracted lots of squirrels and birds, including ducks. He taught me how to properly mow a lawn and weed the yard by hand.

During this time, my folks also introduced me to the importance of reading the local newspaper, especially on Sunday morning, as well as prioritizing charitable giving and volunteering, whether it be for Habitat for Humanity, the Special Olympics or hospital visitation. In 1987, dad moved to Charlotte, NC to work for Ryland Homes as a salesperson, and I joined him shortly afterward, while mom stayed back to sell the house. Dad and I lived in a small two-bedroom apartment in Huntersville, NC, where he supported my extra-curricular activities and sports as much as his work schedule allowed.

We regularly attended mass at St. Therese Catholic Church (Mooresville) and St. Thomas Aquinas (across from UNC-Charlotte), and I spent several weekends with dad at the model home at Windward Condominiums on Lake Norman. With his guidance and passion for home sales, I briefly followed in his footsteps and began working for Ryland Homes as a sales assistant. On the weekends, we would occasionally rent movies from the Blockbuster Video down the street and/or go out to dinner. Once our house in the Winchester subdivision in Charlotte was completed, mom joined us and dad transformed the yard from a virtually barren lot to a lush front and back yard with a thriving garden. Many a morning and evening was spent hanging out with dad on the patio during the nicer months admiring the flowers and trees that he planted. He even won neighborhood Yard of the Month a few times.

Dad served as a volunteer for the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) Transport crew for the VA in Salisbury, NC for eleven years, where he took great pride in driving veterans to and from their appointments. He assisted parishioners at the churches he attended with everything from learning to drive and visiting them in the hospital to general support and friendship while helping more than a few salespeople at Ryland Homes with learning the ropes in such a competitive business. He received several awards over the years for flawless ratings from home buyers and for high sales volumes, and went on several Ryland-sponsored vacations as a result, with Aruba being his favorite of the destinations. In 2017/2018, he completed 30 years with Ryland Homes (then Cal Atlantic and now Lennar Homes). He sold his beloved home in Charlotte, NC in 2019 and moved to Phoenix to be with his wife and daughter. In January 2020, three of his siblings and two of their spouses surprised him for his 80th birthday party, and for three days afterwards, we had an absolute blast traveling to several cities and towns within a three-hour radius of Phoenix.

I have such fond memories of my father growing up, from tomato sandwiches made from juicy tomatoes that hailed from his garden to riding the Swamp Fox roller coaster together in Myrtle beach, and sitting outside on summer nights watching the fireflies. For as long as I can remember, we would go out for dinner and drive around looking at real estate afterwards, which I still find cathartic to this day.

Dad also loved Christmas light displays, a love that he passed along to me, and that included visiting McAdenville, SC (Christmas Town U.S.A.) on several occasions. Enter his impatience, which I inherited, and was on full display when I was back in town visiting for one of my birthdays in my 30s. We had planned to do the McAdenville lights and then grab dinner. Dad did not want to wait, so we got to McAdenville while it was still broad daylight and we drove around and dad then said something like, “Now we can go eat.” We all started laughing because there was barely anything to see as the sun had not even set and most of the lights were not even on. (We did pull over and wait until it got dark enough for the light displays).

I cherish the memories of mini-adventures with dad, from day trips up to Boone and Blowing Rock, NC in the late 1980s and 90s to tubing down the Mitchell River in the early 90s. In 2004, we rode roller coasters together during an all-day father/daughter outing at King’s Dominion and in his mid-70s, we spent the day together at the U.S. National Whitewater Center, where we zip lined, kayaked, went whitewater rafting, and did a ropes course. He even showed me some of the terrifying mountain biking trails he rode. And then there were the Arizona day trips in the 2020s, which included a range of activities from apple picking at Apple Annie’s orchard in Wilcox and hiking to a waterfall in Cornville to gold panning at Lynx Lake in Prescott and picnicking in Globe and Superior. My parents made it a point on four or five consecutive Arizona day trips to find a playground and swing on the swings.

I fondly remember my dad drinking his coffee on Sunday morning while watching CBS News Sunday Morning and Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom. Saturday nights as a family included Hee Haw and a local wildlife show, and Saturday Night Live for dad and mom, as it was past my bedtime. Wheel of Fortune was a mainstay on weeknights, especially since Vanna White hails from North Myrtle Beach. Dad and I both had a soft spot for the Incredible Hulk television series with Lou Ferrigno and Bill Bixby, and as a family, we often watched Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley, Little House on the Prairie, The Waltons, Alice, The Jeffersons, Mork and Mindy, Cheers (in his top five favorites of all time), Three’s Company, Good Times, The Wonder Years, Married with Children, Family Ties, Coach, Who’s the Boss, Roseanne, The Bob Newhart Show, Night Court, Miami Vice, Magnum P.I., and too many others to list. And then there were the hours of reruns of Sanford and Son, The Three Stooges, the Andy Griffith Show, and years later, King of Queens, all which dad and I both loved. Dad was also a huge fan of Seinfeld, Blondie, and Laurel and Hardy.

Other than comedic television series, war movies/series were his favorites, especially those centered around World War II, with Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers taking the top spots, respectively. He also loved old westerns and anything boxing related, and passed on to me his love of comeback stories and inspirational movies like The Rookie. In his 50s, he became a movie buff and would frequent movie theaters for their matinee features. He has well over a 100 movie favorites, including Stand By Me, The Jerk, No Country for Old Men, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Talladega Nights – The Legend of Ricky Bobby, Pulp Fiction, We Are Marshall, La Bamba, Public Enemies, Walk the Line, Cold Mountain, Braveheart, The Last of the Mohicans, Platoon, Seabiscuit, and Cinderella Man. His most loved Christmas movies were The Christmas Story, Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.

Dad’s favorite music hailed primarily from the 1950s through the 1960s – think Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ritchie Valens, Johnny Cash, the Supremes, Carl Perkins – with Elvis Presley being his favorite, although he also enjoyed “newer” music by Tina Turner, Dolly Parton, Bob Seger, and Sting. Comedians and comedic actors topping his list were Richard Pryor, Rodney Dangerfield, Seinfeld, John Candy, Will Ferrell, Vince Vaugn, Lucille Ball, Steve Martin, Carol Burnett, Chevy Chase, Steve Carell, and to some degree, Larry David and Adam Sandler.

Dad was an animal lover, and had an intense love for cats and elephants, although he also had a special place in his heart for dogs, birds, bees, and bunnies. He was charitable, resilient, witty with a generous dose of sarcasm, determined, stubborn, a creature of habit, competitive, charismatic, and humble. To so many people who knew him, dad was a fabulous and gifted storyteller who could entertain people for hours with his humorous shenanigans, many of which he initiated during his grocery store, teaching, and real estate/home sales days. His siblings and nieces and nephews have fond memories of these stories and will greatly miss them.

Dad had a strong work ethic that he instilled in me and along with mom, taught me the importance of standing up for what is right and treating everyone the same regardless of social status or race/ethnicity. His favorite speech was Martin Luther King Junior’s I Have a Dream. He was generous with this time and was told by many home buyers over the years that they appreciated how helpful he was throughout the entire purchasing process and beyond. He believed in tipping well and along with mom, raised me to say, “Thank you” and “Please” (my other first words besides “Charlie Cat”), to hold the door open for others, and respect my elders.

He was active until a few months before his passing and had planned on recuperating as quickly as he could so he could return to riding his bicycle, walking, lifting weights, and punching the bag. In fact, he began bicycling long distances in his 60s, completing several charity bike rides, including multiple 24 Hours of Booty rides in Charlotte. One year, I had the pleasure of cheering for him as he bicycled over 200 miles in 24 hours. Dad also had a blast doing time trials on his bicycle at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. In his 60s and 70s, he would spend a lot of time bicycling the greenway stretching from our community to UNC-Charlotte and beyond, and I would sometimes join him when I was in town. He would take me off the paved trail and into the mountain biking trails in the nearby University Research Park. And years ago, in the middle of summer, he introduced me to the wild blackberry patch on the bicycle path near Mallard Creek Road, and we picked bags of delicious berries. That same day, he also pointed out the resident heron, who he said he saw almost every time he biked along Mallard Creek.

Dad also tried his hand, or should I say, feet, at running. While he did some 5Ks in his 60s, he just never loved running the way he did bicycling. When he became unsure of his footing in the last two years, he turned his mountain bike into a stationary bicycle and would petal vigorously several days a week into the fall of 2025. He also lifted weights well into his eighties, often demonstrating to people who were new to the gym how to use the correct form to prevent injuries. And he still hit the punching bag daily until his 84th birthday, with periodic bouts here and there through the summer of 2025. He took to swimming daily from 2020 through 2025 and prided himself on both increasing his laps and rescuing as many bees as possible from drowning.

Over the course of several decades, dad would make over 800 combined donations/pints of blood, power red blood, and platelets, mostly to the Red Cross on Park Road in Charlotte, and later to Vitalant in Arizona. His last donation was in late 2023, when he had to stop due to new medicine that prevented him from donating. He attended mass, often several times a week, at Corpus Christi Catholic Church.

Playing either Elvis Presley’s or Bob Seger’s Greatest Hits on his phone before I left the hospital for the day/evening became an almost daily ritual on the days preceding his somewhat unexpected death. That last night, like the four previous nights, he had asked me to play Bob Seger’s Against the Wind and told me, “Thank you so much for everything. I really appreciate it. Seriously, I can’t thank you enough. I love you.” Those were his last words to me. And I said something to the effect of, “I love you, too, dad. I’ll see you tomorrow and we’ll get through this like we do everything else. You know I love you.” My last words to him would come the next day.

He is preceded in death by his parents, Joseph and Mary, sister Catherine, Sam Cowden, Frank Duchesne, Richard Kimmel, Jerry Ward, friends (especially John Cabigas), and his/our beloved cats, which he would want me to list as they were family members to him (Charlie Cat, Gray Boy, Black Kitty, Bino, Kitty Blanchard, Eve, Rustea, Tooncess, Autumn, Cerise, Kara, Jonathan, Stray Kitty, Baby, and many other strays and rescues he helped along the way). He is survived by his wife, Jackie Ratcliffe, his daughter and only child, Dawn Ratcliffe (Brett Barnes), his sisters, Pat Duchesne, Jackie Cowden, and Chris Wenzel (Mike), his brother Bill (Amy), sixteen nieces and nephews, other extended family members, friends (especially Ed, Anna, and family, Elizabeth, Keith, Sally and Mike, Trevor, Howard, Jenny, Stacy and family, and Don and Sharon), and so many more people whom he cared about, as well as his grand cats, whom he loved and lived with for the last years of his life (Aria, Lucas, and Brooke).