Grover Cleveland Ratliff

Grover Cleveland Ratliff, Jr., 90, died on December 21, 2014, in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Celebration of Grover's Life: 3:00 p.m. Saturday, January 10, 2015, at Lucas Funeral Home, 1321 Precinct Line Road, Hurst, TX. Grover was born in Fort Worth, Texas, on February 24, 1924. He graduated from Riverside High School in 1940 with his high school sweetheart, Dorothy. After studying civil engineering at Texas A&M, he married Dorothy in 1944, and they were married 58 years before her death in 2002. Grover worked for Convair and the Texas Highway Department, and then with his considerable salesmanship skills, enjoyed a successful career selling various kinds of highway, aggregate, and heavy equipment until his retirement at 72. After Dorothy's death, Grover began living part of every year in Jackson, Wyoming, where he pursued his lifelong passion for nature and photography. In 2005, Grover married Bettye Conner, who shared his love of the beauty of Wyoming and photography. When in Jackson, Grover was honored to exhibit his photographs at the Lexington Hotel and to meet most mornings with the Lexington guests, answering their questions about the sights and the animals of the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone, and making many new friends from all over the world. In 2012, Grover released the first DVD of his wildlife and landscape photographs, "The Best of Grover," and in 2014 at age 90, he published his first book, "Roaming the Wild: Portraits of Wyoming," featuring his photographs and his stories about life and photography. Preceded in death by his parents, Grover Cleveland Ratliff, Sr., and Laura Olivia Ratliff; his beloved wife of 58 years, Dorothy; his mother-in-law Ellen Conner Hughes; and his step-son Charles Clinton Duggan. Survived by wife, Bettye Conner Ratliff; four children and their spouses, Kim Ratliff (Pam), Kurt Ratliff (Kathy), Kobey Ratliff (Gusti), and Debora Ratliff (Diane Denman); three grandchildren, Kasey Ratliff (Katherine), Blake Ratliff (Jamie), and Laura Olivia Ratliff (Ryan Smith); and two great grandsons, Michael Blake Ratliff, Jr. and Samuel Brennan Ratliff; step-sons Conner Allen Stevens (Celeste); James David Duggan (Deborah), step-daughter, Melissa Ellen Spurrier (Isaac Rios), and nine step-grandchildren, twenty-two step-great grandchildren, and one step-great, great grandchild; and in Jackson, WY, his extended family of Max and Helen Kudar, Diana and Tim Waycott and sons Max and Shane, and Jim Laybourn. In lieu of flowers, please donate to the Cougar Fund at www.cougarfund.org To send flowers or a memorial gift to the family of Grover Cleveland Ratliff please visit our Sympathy Store.