Dorothy "Dot" Virginia Phillips Ragan's Obituary
Mrs. Dorothy (Dot) Virginia Phillips Ragan, of Kannapolis, left her earthly home for her heavenly one, surrounded by her loving family, Saturday, June 1, 2019.
A Celebration of Life service will be held 2:00 pm Wednesday, June 5, 2019 at Lady’s Funeral Home Chapel. Reverends Tim Jernigan, Mike Roper and Joe Smith will officiate. Visitation will be held from 12 pm until 1:30 pm prior to the service. Interment will follow in Carolina Memorial Park.
Mrs. Ragan was born April 23, 1930 in Wilkes County to the late Edgar Dewey Phillips and Helen Harrington Phillips. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her sister, Doris Phillips Yates; brother, Edgar Donald Phillips; and son-in-law, Barron Douglas Goodson.
She graduated with the class of 1948 from Cannon High School and later from North State Business College. She worked as a retail clerk during high school and then for over fifty years in secretarial administration with Cannon Mills, Inc., spending most of her employment in the Plant I Main Office Purchasing Department, where she stood out both as an employee as well as a model human being.
Dot made a profession of faith at a tender age and continued to share her testimony by word and deed all her life, both on the job and in her service to the community through charitable work and in the church as a Sunday school teacher, choir member, and as a member of musical groups as well as joining in song with the love of her life, J. W. Ragan, Jr. Dot is currently a member of Franklin Heights Baptist Church where she served on the Building and Grounds Committee prior to her decline in health.
Mrs. Ragan will be remembered not only for her Christian faith but also for her many talents including caregiving, music, cooking, decorating, gardening, sewing, hospitality, poetry writing, and for her greeting card ministry which extended abroad.
She possessed a gleeful, innocent humor and a life-affirming twinkle in her eye that were matched only by the graceful grit with which she bore life’s challenges. She was a woman of a bygone era, born into the Great Depression where she learned to use her imagination and creativity to wring beauty from the overlooked and the everyday. This wrought in her a quintessential penchant for making sweet and special everything she turned her hand to, and for finding the extraordinary among the simple. The comforter of many, Dot never sought anything for herself but instead found joy in shining a light on God’s wonder and promises for others. The soft, warm balm of her touch soothed many hearts in her nearly nine decades of life, and will remain imprinted on the hearts of all who knew her. The timeless, eternal nature of her loving soul gave life a deep and profound meaning that will remain with her loved ones, always, until the glorious day of their heavenly reunion.
These include her dear husband, Jay, of 71 years as well as her daughter, Sharon R. Goodson, of Rockwell; two sons, Dr. Eddie James Ragan (Kathy) of Old Fort and Steven Wesley Ragan (April) of King; six grandchildren, Dr. Summer Gail Goodson of Phoenixville, PA, Ryan Wesley Ragan of King, Sunni Leigh Goodson of Dublin, Ireland, Lauren Ragan Evans (Josh) of Reidsville, Julie Michelle McKinney of Old Fort and Leevon McKinney, Jr. (Sherry) of Charlotte; two great-granddaughters, Aubrey Elizabeth Evans of Reidsville and Harmony Walker of Chattanooga, TN; and two great-grandsons, Hunter McKinney (Kayla) of Los Angeles, CA and Ryan McKinney (Thomason) of Charlotte.
The family wishes to thank the staffs of Carolina Caring and Home Instead.
Memorials may be made to the National Kidney Foundation, 933 Louise Avenue #101B, Charlotte, NC 28204.
Proverbs 31:10-31
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