Anna Sumner Ragland – Lone Star Cremation

Anna Sumner Ragland, 88, passed away peacefully at home on December 12, 2024. She was surrounded by members of her loving family.  Anna was born on March 29, 1936, at home in rural Tift County, Georgia. She was the second of three children of her parents Naomi Sumner and George W. (Coot) Sumner. Anna was preceded in death by her darling Ralph (her husband of 68 years), her parents, her brother Frank Sumner, her sister Mary Frances Sumner, her son-in-law Frederick “Bubba” Klemcke, and several nephews. Growing up in the south Georgia town of Tifton, Anna was a vivacious girl with a delightful (and life-long) sense of humor.  She loved music from a very early age and was a trained vocalist and pianist who would sing with various local bands and church choirs.  She loved to dance starting at an early age and put it to good use as a cheerleader at Tift County High School, where she graduated in 1953, at many sock hops and the  parties with their Air Force friends as well as events at the Officers’ Clubs at the many bases where they were stationed. Anna accepted Jesus as her savior and was baptized at an early age.  Some of her favorite music to play and sing were hymns from her formative years. She met Ralph in October 1954, while he was in Air Force Aviation Cadet Training in Bainbridge, Georgia.  They were married in Tifton on July 31, 1955, and began their wonderful journey that would last nearly 68 years.  They had four children between 1957 and 1961 while Anna kept the household running like clockwork. Ralph often said that not only was she the prettiest woman he’d ever met, but also that he could not have had the career and college degrees that he achieved if not for her incredible support. As their kids grew, she worked in various ways including her two most rewarding: babysitting children in her home before and after school in Palos Verdes, California, as well as serving as the secretary of the Chamber of Commerce in Plattsmouth, Nebraska. She was the rock of the family and “the wind” under Ralph’s wings, as he wrote in a poem to her.  At home she would often play the piano and sing, often with her kids and grandkids singing right along with her.  She also would “cut a rug” around the kitchen and living room (even into her 80’s) while listening to records or the radio and passed along her love of music and dance to her kids. Her family cherishes the many traditions she started and kept going, including hosting family birthdays and holiday gatherings, always having the newest/best movies for the grandkids to watch, making Christmas stockings for each new addition and sewing stuffed animals for each grandchild.  The family still muses about her exceptional memory of her life with Ralph, and also for being able to recall the many anniversaries, birth dates, grades in school, favorite foods, etc, for all of her kids, grandkids… and most of her great-grandkids. Ralph and Anna retired from the Air Force in August of 1980, after 26 years  They immediately moved to San Antonio, bought their dream house and lived in it for almost 40 years.  During that time they loved to travel domestically and internationally, visiting their far-flung family and many friends.  And often making new friends along the way. Anna’s legacy of loving her family will be felt for generations.  She and Ralph have 53 progeny including their four kids and their spouses, 14 grandkids and their spouses, and 23 great-grandkids. (See full list here in Ralph’s obituary as of March 2023.)  We will love and miss you always, Mom / Mamaw / Grandma / JaJa. You lived and loved so well! A celebration of Anna’s life will be held in San Antonio on March 1st.  Please contact her family directly for details.