Barbara Ann Ragusa's Obituary
Barbara Ann Ragusa (nee Williams) sister, wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother died at age 83 on February 14, 2023 (Valentine’s Day) in Gainesville, Florida after a short illness and surgery. She was the wife of Jim Ragusa for 62 years and the mother of three children.
She led a remarkable life filled with joy, wonderful experiences and memories as a Christian and child of God. While her death has left a great sadness, she has touched the hearts of our family and all those who knew her. As a Presbyterian all her life, she truly believed that one day she would join her ancestors, parents, and friends in Heaven. As the Bible says, “Absent from the body but present with the Lord.” She like all others who have gone before her are ”just passing through” in the elapse of time of those who have inhabited the Earth. She will be missed greatly but we know that she is now in Heaven for all eternity and in a better place free of all pain.
Barbara Ann Williams was born on May 15, 1939 in Chicago, Illinois to Richard Mon Williams and Clara Justina Karger. Her only sibling is Richard John Williams of Hollis, New Hampshire who is 10 years younger, and is married to Marie Elena Spinale. Her father Richard Mon was Welsh and her mother Clara Justina German/Slovak. Barbara with her husband Jim was an avid genealogist and loved the discovery of her ancestor’s histories. She traveled with her husband to the places where her ancestors and families lived and worshipped. Their genealogies gave her a rich understanding of their lives and the sacrifices they made to make her life possible. This knowledge gave her a more complete and clearer understanding of who she was.
Barbara was born in a Chicago hospital just a city block away from where her future husband Jim Ragusa lived and grew up. She lived with her parents and brother on the city’s West Side. Early in her life, she and others recognized her God-given talent as a singer like her Welsh ancestors. As a youngster she sang solos in her church and later took voice and piano lessons to develop her musical skills
Later in life she sang in her family church in Wales during a reunion that brought tears to the eyes of all present. Then she told the story of her paternal grandfather John Williams who was the only family member who immigrated to America from his native Wales. Her father Richard Mon was born in Birkenhead, England and immigrated to the U.S. in 1911 with his parents John Williams and Sarah Pritchard. Richard was their only child.
After elementary school graduation she attended Austin High School from 1953 to 1957 (then the largest coed high school in the country). She was active with her glee club and met her future husband in 1954. They dated through high school attending many Friday night “sock hops.” This is the same high school her father and later her brother attended. After high school graduation she and her “boyfriend” and future husband Jim Ragusa left Chicago in 1957 and their parents and friends to attend to University of Illinois (U of I) in Urbana-Champaign. She was awarded a music scholarship, performed with the university’s Opera Workshop, and became a member of Sigma Sigma Sigma Sorority where she lived.
She and Jim Ragusa were married on August 20, 1960 in the Chicago Hebron Welsh Presbyterian Church of her parents after dating for five years. Both were in the second half of their U of I senior years. She was a 1960 music education graduate of the U of I. Her husband received a mechanical engineering degree and Air Force commission at graduation in 1960 and both were off to his assignment at Vandenburg Air Force Base near Lompoc, California. She and her husband lived in Lompoc for three years while he served as an Air Force Research and Development Officer on the Titan II Program. While there Barbara served as music supervisor for the local school district. Daughter Sally Ann was born in an Air Force Quonset hut hospital on base. In 1964, after three years of service, Jim decided to leave the Air Force and took a job with NASA at Cape Canaveral (now the Kennedy Space Center). After moving to Titusville, Florida to live, son Mark James and daughter Michele Elizabeth were born in the local hospital.
At NASA Jim was assigned to the Gemini Project and the Apollo Program where he trained astronaut on egress and rescue at the launch pad. Barbara even had the opportunity to prepare a spaghetti dinner for Gemini and Apollo lunar astronauts Charlie Duke and Stu Rossa in her Titusville home. She also had the opportunity to meet other astronauts and VIPs at pre-launch and post-launch events and parties. Later husband Jim was assigned to the Space Shuttle Spacelab Program. During this NASA period she had the opportunity to travel to several program meeting locations in the U.S. and Europe. Barbara really enjoyed these trips and meeting so many interesting people. During this period and for 18 years, she taught preschool music in a Titusville Christian School. But when her children were growing up she was always home to see then off to school and greet them when they returned in the afternoon. Then, it was time to prepare suppers for the family.
In 1970, husband Jim had the opportunity to begin NASA-sponsored doctoral studies at the Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida. This was not an easy move for Barbara from Titusville to Tallahassee because of the care needed for three young children, including Michele Elizabeth the youngest at 7 months of age. After one year in Tallahassee she and her family moved back to Titusville and Jim returned to NASA. These post-school days became hectic with Jim working and completing his dissertation and the oldest children becoming active in competitive swimming. Her busy family traveled around Florida to swim meets. When our Titusville swimming organization sponsored a swim meet, Barbara helped with swimmer entries, making awards, and serving lunches to coaches and meet workers. She enjoyed taking ceramic classes, antique shopping, and singing for many years in the Titusville First Presbyterian Church choir. Barbara’s solos were always appreciated.
After Jim’s retirement from NASA in 1987 he became a professor at the University of Central Florida and commuted to Orlando from Titusville to teach graduate business and engineering management courses. Jim became an early Artificial Intelligence researcher and Barbara again had the opportunity to travel with him to conferences and presentations around the U.S. and world. She visited more than 50 countries in her lifetime. Jim retired from university life in 2001 and began working as an independent Army consultant until he retired in 2007.
In 2005 we purchased a mountain home in Hendersonville, North Carolina. She especially enjoyed the views, trees, and feeding humming birds. All was well until she went on the front porch to change the feeder and found a bear bigger than she was standing on his or her back legs drinking the bird liquid. She was scared to death and ran back into the house. She enjoyed the six months/year stay in the cool mountains, but not the packing up to go and return to Florida. She even sang in the church we attended during the summers. Every year family members visited our North Carolina home until it was sold in 2022 after 18 years of ownership.
Barbara and her entire family suffered a tragic loss in 2007 when daughter Sally Ann’s Gainesville Police Lieutenant husband Corey Douglas Dahlem was struck and killed by a drunk University student driving a truck at high speed. The driver was caught after a hit-and-run chase. Corey was on duty after a Championship basketball game while standing in a well-lit intersection on campus. The driver was convicted and served less than ten years in prison, but Corey’s life was lost forever to his family, friends, and fellow police officers. Like others, Barbara was heartbroken and shaken with his death. However, they will be close again because Barbara will be buried in the same cemetery near Corey’s grave.
Barbara lived with Jim in several homes in Titusville but lastly in a river-side condominium. There she hosted numerous holiday and launch parties for family and friends because the condo faced NASA’s launch sites across the river. The condo was less work for her and it was sold in 2018 after a decision was made to move to Gainesville, Florida to be closer to daughter Sally Ann, husband John Markham, and granddaughter/nurse “Katie” Dahlem. She and Jim had lived in Titusville for 54 years.
Barbara was always proud of her family and what they had achieved at school, swimming, and with their careers and other accomplishments. She was the mother of three, grandmother of five, and great-grandmother of four. In addition to husband Jim, Barbara’s family consisted of daughter Sally Ann Ragusa, widow of Corey Douglas Dahlem, and wife of John Thomas Markham. Her children are Brandon James Dahlem and Katherine Michele “Katie” Dahlem. Brandon is married to Kelly Christine Savery. Their children are Claire Elizabeth, Taylor Corey, and Brooke Elise. “Katie” has a daughter named Ryann Michelle Dahlem. Son Mark James Ragusa is married to Alisa Mureen Ashe. They have two Ragusa children Austin Mark and Rachel Ann. Daughter Michele Elizabeth Ragusa is married to Gordon Muir and Amanda Adaline is their daughter.
There is much more that could be said about Barbara Ann [Williams] Ragusa that is not included in this obituary. Others have memories of interaction with her during her lifetime, and all would be favorable with fond remembrances. She was a loving wife and mother who supported and nourished our lives. The dash between her birth and death dates on her grave marker is rich and full of accomplishments, Christian love and charity, and support to her parents, husband, and family. She is not really gone if she remains in the memory and hearts of family and friends. Her physical life and soul are no longer on Earth but we feel certain that God will take care of her in Heaven.
A funeral service will be held Monday, February 27, 2023 at 11:00 a.m. in the chapel of Williams-Thomas Funeral Home Westarea. Burial will follow in Memorial Park Central Cemetery. The family will receive friends one hour prior to the service beginning at 10:00 a.m.
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