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WESTPORT, Conn. – Lyndon Hanes “Red” Ratcliffe, 87, died Tuesday, May 12.
He loved to fish Connecticut's Farmington River where his love affair with fishing began. He loved to fish the Miramachi, the Restigouche, the York, the Big Horn and the Columbia.
He was also a good shot who could fill a buffet table with pheasant, grouse, goose, venison, elk and the occasional moose. He shot well enough to qualify as a Sharp Shooter in the U.S. Army, which he entered as a private and was discharged as a captain.
He graduated from the Plainville Schools in Plainville , Conn., The Gunnery School and Trinity College, where he was a storied four-year letterman in football.
After a much-decorated stint in U.S. Army Counter-Intelligence in the Far East, he was chosen to handle personal security for Gen. Lymon Lemnitzer, Commander, U.S. Army forces, Far East, later Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
He ran a hugely successful multiple line insurance agency, Tracy Driscoll, in Bristol, Conn., was a lifetime member of The Million Dollar Round Table and held office in a multitude of civic organizations. He moved to the Westport area in 1991 and split his time between there, West Hill Lake and Hancock Park in Los Angeles.
He is survived by his wife, Millee Taggart- Ratcliffe; children and stepchildren, Glenn and Susan Ratcliffe; Bess and Eric Hutchinson; Paul Ratcliffe; Matthew Kurtz; and Heather and Rob Nagle; and seven grandchildren.
A private memorial service is being held and his ashes will be returned to one of the rivers he loved.
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