CYPRESS, Texas — John G. Ragsdale, Jr.,

95, formerly of El Dorado and Little Rock, Ark., died on June 21, 2020. He was the son of Dimple Hill Ragsdale and Judge John G. Ragsdale, for many years an attorney and Municipal Judge in El Dorado.

They were a pioneer family that settled in western Union County about 1850. After graduating with an engineering degree from the University of Arkansas in 1946, John was a petroleum engineer for the Lion Oil Company and Monsanto Oil Company, from which he retired in 1981. He subsequently worked for the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission and then had a petroleum consulting practice. He was a member of the Arkansas Society of Professional Engineers and served as President of the Southwest Chapter.

For over 50 years, John served as a volunteer for the Boy Scouts of America as a scoutmaster and commissioner and led camp groups in Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, and Alaska. He participated in seven National Jamborees and served in Scout programs in Canada, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. John likewise participated in training adult leaders in eight Wood Badge courses and received the Silver Beaver Award, the National Good Shepherd Baptist Award, and the Vigil Order of the Arrow Award. As an adjunct to Scouting, John authored four books and over a dozen articles about outdoor cooking, southern Arkansas history, the local petroleum industry.

A Guide to Dutch Oven Cooking was once widely used by Scout groups and sold over 300,000 copies, and Dutch Ovens Chronicled documented their historical use in the early U.S. For many years John served as a volunteer demonstrating historical Dutch oven cooking at the Ozark Folk Center, and eventually donated his Dutch oven collection to the Historic Arkansas Museum.

John and wife DeDe were big believers in the value of a good education and contributed generously to four Arkansas universities and to the Arkansas Community Foundation. They endowed a Professorship in Arkansas Studies at Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia and were strong supporters of the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies in Little Rock, where a conference room was named after them. He was also an Army veteran of World War II.

John put his ideas and optimism into service with many Baptist missions and civic organizations. His mission programs took him to six other states as well four countries. He served on the board of directors of the El Dorado Habitat-for-Humanity, sat on an advisory board for the University of Arkansas library and worked with the Ozark Society, the Arkansas Historical Association, the Arkansas Museum of Natural Resources Foundation, the Arkansas Historic Museum, and the Little Rock Rotary Club. And in 2001, he was also instrumental in introducing Senate Bill 402 into the Arkansas legislature declaring the Dutch oven as the official historic cooking vessel of Arkansas. The Bill was signed into law by then Governor Mike Huckabee.

He was preceded in death by wife of 68 years, DeDe Ragsdale and daughter Julia Lovorn and is survived by daughter Kathryn and Gary Valentine of Houston, son Paul and Sharon Ragsdale of Cypress, Texas, son David and Judy Ragsdale of Kingwood, Texas, brother Robert W. Ragsdale of El Dorado, Ark., and by 11 grandchildren and several great-grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, contributions can be sent to the Ragsdale-Johnson Scholarship Fund at the Arkansas Community Foundation in Little Rock, Ark. (www.arcf.org).