A man who used to lead Bloomington’s parks department and his wife were killed in a suspected homicide last month. Leonard “Frank” Ragan served as the city of Bloomington parks and recreation director for a decade until he left in 1991.
According to multiple news reports, Ragan and his wife, Jackie, were found dead inside their home in McKinney, Texas — where Ragan retired as city manager.
Ragan’s 34-year-old son, Bryce, was reportedly charged with murdering the couple. Officers shot Bryce, who was holding a gun when they entered the home. He was in stable condition at a local hospital as of two weeks ago.
Former Bloomington deputy mayor Mick Renniesen said hearing about this tragic family loss has been difficult. Renniesen was the sports director for the city when he first met Ragan. He said Ragan was focused, professional and always did his research.
“Had a pretty even-keeled demeanor, which I think is important for someone in a leadership position — but at the same time, very passionate about the opportunity to take Bloomington's parks department to another level. And he did that," Renniesen said.
Tomi Allison was the mayor for the majority of Ragan’s time in Bloomington. She said the city’s parks were in rough shape in the early 80s. Ragan led a city-wide parks plan that laid out not only what improvements should be made, but how and where to fund them.
“It really pays to hire somebody with skills and drive and Frank Ragan had both," she said.
Ragan’s work helped the city pass a major bond issue to improve the parks and build new ones, such as Twin Lakes Sports Park.
Ragan wanted to create a parks district, but the idea wasn't popular with voters and never came to fruition. That would have made it so funding for city and county parks would have been more equally split between taxpayers in Bloomington and Monroe County.
