H. W. "Skipper" Ragsdale, III

As the fourth generation of a prominent San Diego mortuary family, Skipper Ragsdale was around death all the time. However, If you'd ask him how he was, he always had the same response, “I’m blessed,thank you” 

Even after he suffered a stroke, there was no change in that answer, and it was his cheery outlook and ever-present smile that family and friends will remember even in the wake of Mr. Ragsdale’s death on January 25, 2018 at the age of 64, from the complications of pneumonia. 

Hartwell W. Ragsdale III was born March 19, 1953 in Phoenix, Arizona. He was 2 when his father and mother moved to San Diego and bought Anderson Mortuary, which had closed. They renamed it Anderson-Ragsdale Mortuary and it’s been in operation ever since.

The boy dubbed "Skipper" at an early age by his grandmother, grew up in a home located above the mortuary, which at the time was at 26th Street and Imperial Avenue. (The mortuary moved to it's present location on Federal Blvd in 1977.)

He went to St. Rita's Catholic School and University of San Diego High School before transferring to Crawford High School, where he was better able to pursue his interest in music. A drummer and background singer, he played in a number of bands, including Power, a funk outfit that also featured sax player Hollis Gentry and bassist Nathan East. The band toured with Barry White, and others.

The family business started in 1889 when his great-grandfather opened a mortuary in Oklahoma. The business eventually called to him in his youth and he graduated from Cypress College’s Department of Mortuary Science. After his father passed away in 2004, he became the face of Anderson-Ragsdale.

“What he liked best about it was just being able to help people in their time of need,” said his son, Derick Ragsdale

Mr. Ragsdale was active in various local, state and national industry associations, including stints as the first African-American president of the San Diego Funeral Directors Association and was active in the California Funeral Directors Association.

Like his father before him, Mr. Ragsdale also believed in community service and was on several boards, such as; House of Metamorphosis, Neighborhood House Association, Big Sister League, the San Diego Symphony, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and the Diamond Business Improvement District. He was also a member of Mt. Erie Baptist Church.

He loved fishing. He would always organize an annual trip to Sitka, Alaska, where about a dozen men would fish for salmon and halibut. Inevitably, a week or so after everyone came home, a package would arrive in the mail at each of their houses. Inside would be photos of them hauling in fish. Skipper had taken the pictures. “You wouldn’t even know he was doing it,” said one of the fisherman.

Mr. Ragsdale is survived by his wife, Valerie Ragsdale whom he married in 1999, as well as his son, Derrick Ragsdale. He was preceded in death by his parents, Hartwell and Hazel Ragsdale; his sister, Rosalind Renee; and his daughter, Jocelyn Nicole Ragsdale.

The family request that donations be made to the ROSALIND RAGSDALE SCHOLARSHIP FUND

At Cypress College of Mortuary Science  

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