William Jay "Bill" Ratliff

William Jay “Bill” Ratliff passed away at his residence on July 5th, 2025. Born on March 12, 1952, Bill was 73 years old. Bill lived on the Alsea River just east of Tidewater, Oregon. He died of natural causes. His love of the outdoors came from our parents Donald E. Ratliff, Sr. and Maurine C. Ratliff, who predeceased him. Our family loved fishing and hunting trips. Bill graduated from Corvallis High School in 1970 and Oregon State University (OSU) in 1975, majoring in Fisheries and Wildlife. He grew up in Salem, Oregon and moved to Corvallis for 7th grade, and OSU for college. This gave him access to the Oregon Coast and the Cascade Mountains, both of which he loved. Bill was a highly skilled woodworker, and with brother Ken built several drift boats to enhance their fishing adventures. They spent a summer as commercial fishermen in a dory. In taking the dory to Newport for the first time, halfway there, Bill looked back and said “HEY!” Dad and Ken looked - there was no boat on the trailer! They quickly made a U- turn near Toledo and headed back with a large lump in their throats, fearing the worst. After one mile, nothing. Two miles, nothing. Three, four, five, six miles, nothing. Then at seven miles back, there is the boat on the road with only some scraping on the bottom runners! There was a line of parked pickups with onlookers scratching their heads. Embarrassed, they commenced with some help to load their boat back on the trailer. After graduating from college, Bill served a tour in the U.S. Peace Corps in the Philippines, where brother Don visited him. Don remembers being ever so impressed, listening to Bill converse fluently with the locals in their native Tagalog language. They were a group of fishermen around a campfire, sharing a beverage, and it was clear from their camaraderie they loved and appreciated Bill, who had learned their language from the neighborhood children. Bill worked twice with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) out of Newport, and between those stints spent several seasons in Oregon and Alaska commercial fishing and as a Foreign Fisheries Inspector on fishing vessels from around the world. Bill retired in 2024, and at his retirement ceremony received a “Keith Richards Award for Longevity in Fieldwork” for having “54,000 hours of outstanding field work and authentic tales from life in Oregon’s coast range.” Bill loved his work, which involved both attending the “trapper” (a fish trap on Tenmile Creek) and doing fish counts on the small streams of Oregon’s Coast Range. He told John that the ODFW would pay him to count the fish, and he gets his exercise too. He walked up these streams, and sometimes came out at a place where he had pre-positioned a bicycle and rode the bike back to his vehicle. Bill is survived by his three brothers, John (Chris), Don Jr. (Marti), and Ken. Bill’s daughter is Kalyanii Kennedy, whose mother is Cecilia Kennedy. Kalyanii has been a nurse, is now a 4th year medical student at Western University, and is now doing clinical rotations at Good Samaritan Hospital, Corvallis. Bill’s grandson, David Kennedy is a junior at OSU, studying electrical engineering. Bill has been supportive and very proud of their accomplishments. Bill was a fan of OSU football and baseball; during the Beavers’ recent post season baseball play, he told John, “They have to do something about their errors.” He also supported the OSU Department of Fish and Wildlife in their mission through donations. If you wish to donate in Bill’s name, do so to the OSU Department of Fish and Wildlife. A Celebration of Life for Bill will be held 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, August 17th, 2025 at the Philomath Scout Lodge, 660 Clemens Mill Rd., Philomath, OR 97370.

Tributes

William Jay "Bill" Ratliff

March 12, 1952 - July 5, 2025