Frank Ratliff
Jan. 24, 1926-March 29, 2011
Palo Alto, California
Submitted by Laurel Leone

Frank Ratliff, 85, who taught English to generations of Palo Alto high school students, died on March 29, 2011, after a short illness. A long-time local resident, he moved to Palo Alto in 1962. After two years at Truckee High School, Mr. Ratliff taught at Cubberley High School from 1957-1962, then served as an advanced programs consultant to the Palo Alto Unified School District 1962-64, and was instrumental in designing the progressive humanities curriculum for the English and Social Studies programs at Gunn High School. He taught at Gunn from the school's opening in 1964 until his retirement in 1988, serving in his last two years at Gunn as a mentor to other teachers as well.

During his nearly 30 years of teaching, he received numerous awards, grants, fellowships and other recognition. He was an active contributor to numerous professional associations, holding various leadership positions in local, state and national teachers? organizations. His areas of special interest were composition; American and British literature; Greek mythology, drama, and literature; and film studies. Mr. Ratliff was much-beloved by his students, not the least for his dry wit. He would sign yearbooks with a rubber stamp. The message changed several times over the years, but the one most remembered by former students read "To my Favorite Student, Sincerely, Frank Ratliff." He spent many of his summers enriching his professional knowledge and experience, including two summers as principal at the AIFS Royal Academy of Music in London.

Mr. Ratliff had a life-long interest in theater and film, and was an enthusiastic supporter of dramatic productions at Gunn. He also wrote screenplays. He was a member of the American Film Institute, past president of the California Arts Society, and a long-time subscriber to the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and the San Francisco Early Music Society.

After retirement, he became an accomplished watercolorist and continued his regular travels to London to visit with friends and attend theater. In 2007, Mr. Ratliff moved to Channing House, where his classes on Shakespeare and other favorite topics were very popular. He also played in costumed melodramas.

Frank Ratliff was born in Natchez, Miss., on Jan. 24, 1926. After graduating from Natchez High School in 1943, he served in the U.S. Army from 1944-1946 and again from 1949-1952. Between deployments, he attended Mississippi State, then Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State), where he earned his B.A. in journalism. He said that it was his war experience that made him want to become a journalist. He received an M.A. in History from U.C. Berkeley in 1956.

Tags: veteran, arts/media, teacher/educator