Additional reporting by Heath Harrison

Former hardware store owner, WWII vet was 99

Roy Ratliff, one of Lawrence County’s last surviving World War II veterans and a hardware store owner, passed away on Wednesday, Dec. 4 at the age of 99.

Ratliff was well known for being the owner of Central Hardware and Furniture in Ironton for 69 years before he sold the business to Rich Donohue in 2016. But even after he sold it, he still went in most days.

“It’s home,” Ratliff said in a 2019 interview. “And it gives me something to do when I get up. I have to stay busy, I have to have something to do every day.”

Donahue had nothing but praise for Ratliff.

“He was a wonderful, wonderful man,” he said. “Those World War II vets, they have been tagged with being the Greatest Generation. There are a lot of good men and women who served our country and I am proud to have known Roy, my dad and others who served.”

Ratliff was 18 years old when he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Forces in 1943 and was trained to be the bottom turret gunner on a B-17 bomber.

He was sent overseas in October 1944 and spent his 19th birthday off the coast of Africa. The bomber was assigned to an airbase in Allied-occupied southern Italy and was sent out to bomb Axis targets in Germany, Austria and Yugoslavia.

“I flew 30 missions,” Ratliff said.

Donahue said Ratliff had probably flew more missions than that, because the only missions that were counted were the ones when the plane dropped a bomb.

After the war ended in Europe ended in 1945, Ratliff was stationed in Florida. Ratliff and the crew had thought they were going to be trained on the B-29 bomber, a longer-range bomber that was being used in the war against Japan.

“We thought we would have to go the Pacific, but Harry S. Truman was president and we had the atomic bomb and, of course, that ended the war with Japan. So finally, the war was over,” Ratliff said.

When he was released from the military, he came to Ohio, since his parents had moved  to Gallipolis. He went to The Ohio State University and earned a business degree in 1949. 

After graduation, Ratliff worked for a year in Columbus selling insurance, but he didn’t enjoy it, so he moved to Gallipolis and started working with his father, who had purchased a hardware store in Portsmouth. 

In 1955, Ratliff’s father purchased Central Hardware and Furniture and began running that while Roy continued to run the Portsmouth business. 

After getting married on Feb. 15, 1959, at 33 years old, Ratliff closed the store in Portsmouth and joined his father at Central Hardware and Furniture.

Ratliff met his wife, Betty Lea Byrd, while attending a prayer meeting at Central Christian Church. The couple also has two children, David Summers Ratliff and Rebecca Leigh Ratliff Howell.

Ratliff was a member of Central Christian Church, where he has served as an elder and taught a Sunday school class at the church for more than 50 years. 

In 2018, Ratliff was named the honorary grand marshal of the 150th Ironton-Lawrence County Memorial Day Parade.

Lou Pyles, of the Ironton Lawrence County Memorial Day Parade Committee, recalled Ratliff as “a very good man.”

“I knew him all my life,” Pyles said. “He was always busy in the community and always busy in his church,” and he was a real joy to have as our honorary grand marshal.” 

“He really enjoyed that and going to all of the events around the parade,” she said.

Pyles said Ratliff also served on the parade committee and helped out with the event many times over the years.

She said Ratliff always “went that extra mile” in helping out in the community.

She recalled a time when Rock Hill schools contacted her and asked for a help in finding a veteran to speak at their Veterans Day program. She recommended Ratliff.

She said her husband, Brent, and Donahue, drove him to the school so he could talk to the students about his service during World War II.

“Brent said he was fantastic in that, and he really enjoyed the program,” she said.

She said her husband told her that Ratliff showed up for the event carrying a rug, which he used to illustrate a point.

Pyles said Ratliff noted the rug could easily be purchased in the United States, for a few dollars, something that might easily be taken for granted and he urged them to consider how things are in less abundant parts of the world.

Pyles spoke of how Ratliff continued to work at the hardware store, after Donahue purchased it.

“He really helped in that transition,” she said, pointing out that it allowed Ratliff’s longtime customers to get to know the new owner.

“Everyone knew him,” she said. “And he always had a funny story to tell.”

Pyles said Ratliff “was great person to have in Ironton and Lawrence County.”

“It’s a sad day, she said.