Lifetime of wedded bliss

Rita Rae Sanford (born May 9, 1928) and Ernest G. Ratcliff (born February 10, 1927) celebrated 70 years of marriage on September 15, 2015. Rita and Ernest first met at Ville Platte High School in 1942, when Rita was 14 and Ernest was 15.
Rita and her parents (Neta Richards and Harry E. Sanford) had just moved to Ville Platte from West Texas (Wingate), where she spent her younger years, in May 1942.
Her father worked for Continental Oil Company and was asked to transfer with the company. Rita recalls being the new girl in town and how names like Soileau, Landreneau, Fontenot and Vidrine sounded so different, but how she loved it from the start. Rita made friends quickly and immersed herself into several extra-curricular activities, such as the ROTC and drama, but it was music that she was most passionate about. One of her favorite memories was playing drums for the Ville Platte High School band and singing at school concerts. She was once asked by Father DeBlanc to sing “Ave Maria” in Latin.
That same year she also met Ernest, who struck her as a gentleman and handsome. The following year, 1943, her sister, Sammye Lee Sanford, was born. It was then that Ernest invited her to go riding with another couple, which was a common past time during this era. They began to court soon thereafter and spent the following two years getting to know one another. Their favorite outings included movies, dining at the Pigstand, having milkshakes and ice cream at the drug store, attending school functions, listening to Glenn Miller (the leading musician at the time) and going on many group picnics at Chicot Park. Love was in the air!
Ernest and his family (parents Charles E. “Skinny” Ratcliff and Jewel Ratcliff) moved to Ville Platte in 1940. “Skinny” also worked in the oil industry for Glassell Drilling Company. Ernest played football for Ville Platte High School (the Bulldogs), as well as the cornet in the school band. On the weekends, he enjoyed Boy Scouts and camping in Chicot Park. Upon graduation in 1944, Ernest began working for Continental Oil Company and that fall attended University of Texas in Austin. Shortly thereafter, with WWII going on, Ernest joined the U.S. Marines, attending boot camp at Paris Island, South Carolina. Ernest promised to write Rita letters while he was away, and with each letter, their love grew fonder.
In 1945, after boot camp and while on a furlough pending assignment to Japan, Ernest returned to Ville Platte to see Rita, who was only 17 and a senior in high school. Rita recalls (with a chuckle) Ernest stating, “If we don’t get married now, by the time I come back after the war, you might marry someone else while I’m gone!” To alleviate Ernest’s fear, and to celebrate their love, Rita and Ernest decided to elope. They planned the wedding within two days and invited their two closest friends Betty Rice (Ortego; and now Harwell) and Verbus Buller to join them in the next town over, Opelousas. And on a beautiful fall day on Saturday, September 15, 1945, Rita and Ernest were married in a small wedding ceremony at a local preacher’s home. The next day, Ernest left by train to return to boot camp and onto Japan.
The war ended in Dec. 1945, and the following year, Ernest returned to the U.S. as a civilian and returned to work in the oil industry, this time for Richardson & Bass in Kermit, Texas, and in 1949 moved to New Orleans. In 1951, Rita and Ernest had their first child, Steve Ratcliff, and two years later, their second, Janet Ratcliff (Brown). With a boy and a girl, a stable job, their health and family and friends nearby, life was good! In 1959, with the oil field thriving, they relocated to Lafayette, where they lived for another 20 years.
Their children grew up, graduated and married, each having three children.
In 1979, Ernest and Rita moved yet again, this time to Ernest’s father’s home place in Gist, Texas (near Beaumont), where they lived for 20 years. Ernest retired while Rita continued to work at Olan Mills Portrait studio as a portrait consultant for nearly 20 years. Rita retired in 1998 and they moved to Montgomery, Texas (near Houston) to be close to their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. They still live there today.
Still together and long retired, Rita and Ernest often talk of old times and good memories of their past. The family continues to expand as the years go on: one sister, six grandchildren, 14 great-grandchildren, two nephews, one niece, two great-nephews, three great-nieces and countless other friends who call them “Nonnie” and “Gran-Gran.” They now live for “get togethers” with family and friends, where they can cook, visit, laugh and reminisce. There is much laughter and still much love between them today in 2015.