May 20, 2013
Gene Ragan...a timeless television staple in our community.
That's how viewers of his famous farm reports remember him.
"Gene Ragan was a great man and I really loved him dearly."
The local WTVY icon passed away on Friday.
His funeral services were held Sunday at the First Baptist Church in Dothan.
There, family and friends reminisced together with fond memories.
"He was a lot of fun to be around and talk to. Every time he would come on it didn't matter what we was doing, we had to be inside to watch the "Gene Ragan Show." It's just gonna be a big loss with him gone. We've just got a lot of good memories that we'll have. We just hate to let him go."
"Gene Ragan loved this community and loved his God. He was an icon in the community, but he was a close personal friend and he cared deeply about people. One story I liked to tell is when the pig escaped out of Gene's show and came into my office and Gene being the gentleman that he is, tried to protect me. He was afraid he would hurt me, but I was already scratching the pig on the head. It was just a delightful memory."
"I remember I was in school watching it and the funny thing was that at twelve o'clock, they cut away from the moon trip and say ladies and gentlemen it's time for the noon farm report with Gene Ragan. I remember Mr. Ragan saying these boys are going to the moon, but right now we're gonna look at the farm news in the Wiregrass area. He was that important. And a person's very fortunate to watch folks growing up on TV and then get to work with your heroes later on in life and that was my situation. We got to work together and then we got to be very close friends. Gene and I had all kinds of talks about politics and we just had a very unique friendship and we just shared a lot of the same interest and of course the broadcasting business and of course love for the land and the people who make their living on the land and the people who feed us. I'm just gonna miss Gene Ragan, he meant a lot to me."
In remembrance of Gene Ragan, from all of us here at WTVY…
"We honor you and we want you to know that you are still a part of our WTVY family and always will be."
