Ralph Elwood Reynolds

Ralph Elwood Reynolds, 86, of Pinetop, Arizona, died Friday, May 20, 2016, at his home. He was born May 5, 1930 in the small ranching town of Luna, New Mexico; the fifth child of Harry and Charlotte Reynolds. After attending New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, he graduated from the University of Wisconsin in Madison with a Masters’ Degree in Journalism and accepted a position with The Furrow magazine, published by Deere and Company in the Quad Cities. Ralph spent his entire career at The Furrow, rising to the position of editor in chief and winning multiple awards for his writing and editing. He also contributed to publications ranging from The Saturday Evening Post to The Wall Street Journal. Throughout his working career and afterward, he also wrote novels and non-fiction and ultimately published four well-reviewed books: Growing Up Cowboy, The Killvein White, The Bishop Meets Butch Cassidy, and Die Rich Here. After retiring, Ralph moved to Arizona so that he could be close to the ranchland where he had been born and which he continued to cherish. He died from complications related to cancer, according to family members. His survivors include his wife, Janice Reynolds of Moline, Illinois; daughter, Gretchen Reynolds of Santa Fe, New Mexico; daughter, Ingrid Niesman of San Diego, California; daughter, Willa Reynolds of Chicago, Illinois; and daughter, Mary Reynolds of Atlanta, Georgia. A private ceremony of remembrance for Ralph will take place this summer in New Mexico and his ashes will be laid to rest on his family’s ranch, which he once described in one of his books as a “wild, wooded cowboy country, sometimes graceful to the eye and always awesome.”