Jeffrey Edward Ratliff died peacefully in his sleep on Friday February 24, 2023 in Wichita Falls. Jeff was born on June 16, 1953 in Dayton, Ohio to Paul Ratliff and Jean Lou Ratliff. When he was 10, he and his family, including younger sister Cindy, moved to Tucson, Arizona, where his father became a ranch foreman. Jeff remembers riding horses across the Lickety Split Plains and having to look for scorpions in his shoes every morning. He graduated from Flowing Wells High School in Tucson, learned construction and trades from his father and uncle, and showed an interest in music from an early age. He learned to play the guitar, mandolin and piano from his uncle, but his favorite was the guitar. He never learned to read music, but played by ear. After military service in Vietnam, he worked construction jobs in Las Vegas and Arizona, toured the Southwest with various bands and then to the Austin area. He eventually settled in Wichita Falls, where he worked in construction and remodeling and played music at various local venues. In 2002, he met his future wife, Genie, while playing in an American Legion band, Post 202 in Wichita Falls. They married on July 15, 2003 in Austin, Texas. He became stepfather to their children Will, Kathryn, Pat and George St. Clair. The two youngest, Pat and George, shared Jeff’s love of music, classic rock and roll, country and western and crossover. George became a musician and lived in Austin with Genie and Jeff while playing with the Latin band Soniquete at various Austin venues. For a time, Jeff worked in Austin and Wichita Falls, and Jeff and Genie commuted between the two until they finally decided to make Wichita Falls their permanent home. Jeff and Genie made numerous trips to London to hear George play and loved the music scene there. Jeff and Genevieve loved to travel and have taken trips to Hawaii, the American Southwest, England and Spain, trips to visit children in London, Bologna, Italy and Lyon, France and many trips to California. They did two tours of the UK with Scholarly Sojourns and vacationed in Baja California. Jeff was a member of American Legion Post 202 in Wichita Falls for over twenty-five years. He and his band played for numerous charity events such as Toys for Tots and fundraisers for various causes. Jeff was a skilled handyman and, in addition to the building trades, was skilled not only in building and design, but also in electrical systems, plumbing and home insurance. Jeff never met a stranger and was happy to talk to anyone about just about anything. He was known for his love of storytelling and sense of humor. Jeff was preceded in death by his parents Paul and Jean Lou Ratliff; and sister Cindy. Survivors include his wife Genie; stepchildren, Will St. Clair, an advertising producer in Chicago, Illinois, and his wife Amanda; Kathryn St. Clair, painter in Petaluma, California, and husband Beau Bouverat; Patrick St. Clair, a painter in San Francisco and wife Maite; and George St. Clair in Bologna, Italy, a tennis coach and teacher of English as a Second Language, and wife Alice; and six grandchildren. The family would like to thank the nursing team and hospice at Wichita Falls and the staff at Brookdale at Sikes Lake for the excellent care given to Jeff. Services for Jeff will be held on Saturday, March 11, 2023 at 11:00 a.m. at First Christian Church, 3701 Taft Boulevard with Pastor Mark Bender. Burial will be in Rosemont Cemetery under the direction of the Owens & Brumley Funeral Home in Wichita Falls. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the Wichita Falls Alzheimer’s Association, 901 Indiana Ave # 350, Wichita Falls, TX 76301. Condolences can be sent to the family at www.owensandbrumley.com

Posted March 07, 2023

Published in Times Record

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Edward Reynoso
March 4, 1930 – February 21, 2023
Sacramento, California – On February 21, 2023, Edward (Ed) Reynoso, a loving husband and father of two children, died at the age of ninety-two, just short of his ninety-third birthday. Mr. Reynoso was born on March 4, 1930 in Watts, California. Edward’s mother, Caroline, came to America at the age of 19 from Chihuahua, Mexico. His parents worked as farm hands and followed the California growing season. His father, Bonifacio, provided farmhands on the farms in Northern California and his mother, Caroline, cooked for the men. Bonifacio died in Woodland, California when Ed was only eight years old. As the oldest child, Ed worked in the fields during the day and helped his mother clean the local bank in the evenings.
Because of his family commitments and with English as a second language, Ed was only able to finish school up to the eighth grade. He met Mary Francis “Ginger” Mabrey through mutual friends in Sacramento and they married in 1952. Mr. Reynoso enlisted in the Army and completed his basic training at Monterey’s Fort Ord. Mrs. Reynoso and her mother moved to Pacific Grove to serve in his to be near. When Mr. Reynoso’s service ended, they moved to Sacramento where, with help from the Veterans Administration, they bought their first home and started their family. The Reynoso’s stayed in the same neighborhood for six decades.
After military service, Ed became a plumber’s apprentice and later a journeyman before founding his own company – Reynoso Mechanical. After a few years, he realized he needed a more stable income, so he enrolled in Sacramento City College. Thanks to the GI Bill, he was able to earn his AA, which led to his being hired as the Sanitary Inspector for the City of Sacramento. He later progressed through all construction disciplines and was proud to lead the city’s Fast Track team on several notable construction projects, including the Arco Arena, the Sacramento Convention Center, and the Hyatt Regency, to name a few. After nearly four decades, Mr. Reynoso retired from the city of Sacramento and opened a construction consulting practice, providing his expertise on the large projects of several clients in Northern California. In addition, he also built and later sold a few investment houses in the South Sacramento/Greenhaven areas.
Ed loved to water ski both the Sacramento and American Rivers and taught his children to water ski from an early age. He volunteered his time and expertise, as well as the materials needed, to help build the first permanent home for the Sacramento Children’s Museum in the city’s downtown area. He has always enjoyed being outdoors, especially camping, and would happily take any opportunity to be in the mountains. As a young man, Ed enjoyed deer hunting, and even more so when he could do it on horseback. Ed and Ginger loved dancing and were members of a local dance club for several decades. They also especially loved being grandparents and great-grandparents and cherished any time they spent with their grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Mr. Reynoso is survived by daughter Karen Conover of Aurora, Colorado, son Randall Reynoso of Sacramento, grandsons Lon Lundgren of San Francisco, Bryson Reynoso of Sacramento and Vincent Lundgren of Roseville, California. Ed was also a great-grandfather and is survived by Elyssa Lundgren and Emilee Lundgren, both from Arizona, and Julius Reynoso from Sacramento. The family would like to thank the team at Carlton Plaza and Stephanie, Odalis and Griselda of Silver Oaks Residential Senior Living and Nurse Tam Nguyen for their kindness and the quality of care Ed received. Services will be held on Friday, March 17 at St. Mary Cemetery and Funeral Center, 6509 Fruitridge Road, Sacramento, CA. There will be a visit at 9:00 am, followed by a rosary at 9:30 am and a liturgy at 10:00 am. The funeral will take place at 11:00 am at St. Mary’s, followed by lunch. In lieu of sending flowers, the family is asking those who are able to donate to The Disabled American Veterans at dav.org.

Published by The Sacramento Bee on March 5, 2023.

34465541-95D0-45B0-BEEB-B9E0361A315ATo plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

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Mary Poppins has descended back into our midst, and she is as graciously malicious as ever. Based on the stories of PL Travers and the iconic 1964 Disney film, the 2004 musical The Sherman Brothers (with a book by Julian Fellowes) is back in the West End with several new songs, a lively cast and absolutely perfect choreography .

This well-known tale of family affection and social sympathy centers on the bank’s household, where wayward children Jane and Michael made it a habit of deterring their nannies. Enter Mary Poppins through the chimney: Her magical touch and tender heart not only show children what it means to respect and care for others, but also strengthen bonds in their semi-estranged family.

In its revised and extended version, Mary Poppins uses more than just a pinch of magic. Among the laudable aspects of Richard Eyre and Matthew Bourne’s glitzy production are a number of stunning scenic illusions designed by Paul Kieve and Jim Steinmeyer. From the contents of Mary Poppins’ endlessly spacious handbag to a fantastically re-assemblable kitchen, numerous components of this dreamy world create well-deserved surprise noises for the audience.

Add to this the outstanding choreography by Bourne and Stephen Mear, which is often hyper- and sharp, expansive and focused. Especially in the famous “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” scene, in which the gestural cohesion of the company is astonishing. Even in moments of domestic calm, her movements carry muted tones of otherworldly charm.

Though Bob Crowley’s eclectic set turns out to be too diverse, its central feature is an elegant group of dollhouse-like structures that lead us into the rooms of the Banks’ London residence. What steers this in the direction of visual bumps is the addition of a number of backdrops and scenic devices that create a mismatched mix. Proper lighting by Hugh Vanstone and Natasha Katz is often more even, but it also sometimes feels inconsistent in its hallucinatory intensity.

What makes up these shaky details is a generally enormous undertaking. Zizi Strallen delivers a finely controlled, tight performance as Mary Poppins that is becoming increasingly elusive and enchanting. While the chimney sweeps Bert, Charlie Stemp is a barrage of heartwarming energy, while Fred Wilcox and Nuala Peberdy are notable as Michael and Jane. Petula Clark’s Bird Woman and Claire Moore’s Miss Andrew admirably support the main parts.

Even this fine line-up can hardly justify the almost three-hour running time of the production. Despite all its strengths, Mary Poppins does not deserve (or use) this unusual length, especially since it is essentially a family show. While some of the newly added music numbers by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, such as “Practically Perfect” and “Brimstone and Treacle”, blend organically into the original music, others appear redundant. With its simple, straightforward storyline, Mary Poppins is by no means difficult to circumcise, but this revival does end up being baggy.

Mary Poppins, the character, may be “practically perfect in every way,” but her show ultimately failed to win that ambitious award. Still, make no mistake: this production still offers an abundance of moving, dazzling moments. And when Mary Poppins flies for the last time, something very special rounds off her majestic departure.

Mary Poppins at the Prince Edward Theater until May 31, 2020

Photo credit: Johan Persson

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