ForeverMissed
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To see Ratch's obituary, please go to the "His LIfe" section of this site. To add stories or your memories of Ratch, go to the "Stories" section.

 

                             +++Thank you for your love and friendship.+++

 

 

October 16, 2023
October 16, 2023
12 Years Dad. This weekend, I pulled out a bunch of old photo albums and Kate, Mom and I looked at them- enjoying the memories. Sometimes it feels like 12 years, sometimes it feels like twice that. I will go for a visit to the bench on my bike soon. xo
October 16, 2023
October 16, 2023
With you in spirit today and not far behind. Cheers, Peter
November 7, 2022
November 7, 2022
Well Ratch - each time I go to the Belfry Theatre, I stop by your window to say Hi. And every once in a while, when I'm alone in the Chart Room at the yacht club, I ponder the many stories you shared with us over a glass or two. Opening Day isn't the same without you. Never far from my thoughts.
October 17, 2022
October 17, 2022
You are in my thoughts today as I look back to our times together as writing partners and lovers of all things nautical. You left us too damn soon. Here's to you old friend. Cheers, Peter
October 17, 2022
October 17, 2022
It was 11 years ago yesterday that you passed and we spent it in a way you would have loved! Sheldon and Lara came to visit Victoria, so we met up at Margaret Jenkins, as they were staying very close by. Kate came too. It was a first time meeting for Sheldon and Kate. It was a smoky day, but beautiful and sunny. We walked to Gonzales and basked in the sun and chatted about the years that have passed since Todd and I last saw Sheldon (2003). You would be so happy to have seen us all together, and even better, to have been there (mind you, we likely would have met for lunch at the yacht club instead!) xoxo
November 7, 2021
November 7, 2021
This is the day that will always be your day Dad. Kate and I and Mom and all of the crew will be thinking of you when we gather to do our annual celebration of you. We miss you. xo M
November 7, 2021
November 7, 2021
Dad, here on your birthday, Mercedes family and mine, will celebrate with our annual Ratch Sundae Birthday gathering. It's a time we reflect upon you and how much we miss you. Your grandkids are tall, your grand daughter Ruby has your 'wake up a room' voice and love of theatre. Shane is playing all sorts of music and Jackson has moved out to live with his girlfriend and roaming around in his '80s car. He's a good driver, like you! We miss you Dad. Very much. All the time xoxoxoxo
October 16, 2021
October 16, 2021
Gadzooks! Ten years, Old Stick.
It would be so good to have a craft beer together and a long palaver.
See you soon.
Jon
October 16, 2021
October 16, 2021
10 years.  Have my daughter LaRA (the RA for Ratch) who was born 3 months later to remind.  Now that we are in the the Northwest, it would have been swell having Ratch regale.  The dear memories of The Man have to suffice.  As if... 
October 16, 2021
October 16, 2021
Thinking of you today old friend. Sail on with following seas.
October 16, 2021
October 16, 2021
A decade has now passed. It does seem like so much longer at times. So much has changed, in our family, in our world. We are taking care of Mom. The boys are so tall and growing so fast (I think Johnny may be taller than you were now). We are happy and rolling along. xoxo
October 17, 2020
October 17, 2020
Time rolls on but "Ratch" remains in my mine. I will always remember him as a kindly gentleman.
October 17, 2020
October 17, 2020
Think of you still. Saw a CBC program last week about the TO music scene and knew you'd have known all the folks worth their salt. Sail on Captain Wallace.
October 16, 2020
October 16, 2020
With so much of the world in a state of turmoil it's a good thing to turn ones thoughts and memories to a dear friend and the best writing partner one could hope for, namely Ratch Wallace, whose larger than life presence I truly miss. My best wishes to Mercedes, Lissa and his dear grandchildren. Cheers, Peter
October 16, 2020
October 16, 2020
Almost a decade on the memory of the good man Ratch is still vibrant.   He was a singular character.  Just the other day, I was speaking to a Minnesotan about the lakers on Superior in the winter and the image in my head was of Ratch striding off a ship caked in ice at the Toronto docks, unruly blond hair over that beaming smile outfitted in that full length black leather trench coat and bovver boots. Embracing to be home to slip into his other artistic life.
October 16, 2020
October 16, 2020
It's coming up on a decade that you have been gone. The years have flown by, as we have watched your grandkids grow, and the world change drastically. I wonder what you would have though about our current state of affairs- the pandemic, politics, all of it. For sure, it would have been a motto of "Safety first"! As it always was.  Miss you Dad, I wish you were here to watch J and J grow. xo
October 16, 2020
October 16, 2020
Not long ago, not far away, we'll meet again another day. Mike C.
October 16, 2019
October 16, 2019
Well, old Maestro, you would be delighted by how everyone remembers you so very vividly.
It won't be long now!
Cheerio,

Jon
October 16, 2019
October 16, 2019
Thinking about you today and missing your friendship. Cheers, mate.
October 16, 2019
October 16, 2019
Eight years already... so much has happened that you would have loved. Those grandkids of yours are growing like crazy- Johnny is already as tall as me! Jake will be soon too. It is all moving along so quickly. You are missed by us all. xoxo
October 23, 2018
October 23, 2018
A good friend too soon gone, I think of "Ratch" often.
October 20, 2018
October 20, 2018
Well, Ratch, if you hadn't sent me that letter from the Castle Hotel in Vancouver in 1964 telling me how wonderful the Coast was....I never would have sailed the "HEARTSEEKER", nor met Dan and Sioux Carr, or Don Cruickshank, or Denyse...and I would never have known Kathleen.
Everything would have been very, very different.
I still follow your policy of introducing interesting people to each other... God Bless!
October 16, 2018
October 16, 2018
Remembering Ratch coming off a Great Lakes Freighter in the dead of winter - the ship caked in ice and icicles. Ratch appears out of the sub-zero mist beside the ship in that long leather black trench coat of his as if packing six guns, that Ratch amble, head held high, blond hair tousled, ready to slurp in the joys of his own Toronto.  He was just a good man.  He's missed.
October 16, 2018
October 16, 2018
Seeing you on this great memorial website and thinking of you today and often. Deep sadness and little overwhelmed today. Miss the hell out of you old friend. "We are holding our own". Capt. McSorely, SS Fitzgerald.
October 16, 2018
October 16, 2018
Great memories of the meetings we had with husband Doug and Ratch. Now they are both together having meetings and I miss them both. Ratch has gone 7 years and Doug has gone 2 years. Heres to the memories and they are not forgotten
October 16, 2018
October 16, 2018
Has it been 7 years already? You have missed so much- your 5 grandchildren have grown so much and have all continued to be kind, funny, bright and loving. Thanks for giving me my sister and thus cousins for my boys.  We miss you Dad. xoxo
October 16, 2018
October 16, 2018
My friendship with Ritchie (not Ratch to me) goes back to Lakefield Preparatory School and to camp Onondaga. They are fond memories of those years. Kudos to whoever put this website up, it is the best way to remember someone and the good times we had – as kids in my case
November 8, 2017
November 8, 2017
As long as you can remember Ratch he is not really gone. I will remember Ratch.
November 7, 2017
November 7, 2017
You would be 73 today Dad. We are celebrating your birthday next week with our annual sundaes tradition. We will toast you with our sundae classes. xoxo
October 16, 2017
October 16, 2017
Another year passes, and we remember Ratch, striding high in the direction of his dreams. The RA in my daughter's name Lara was to honour Ratch, and so he is present for me. 

*The differences that divide us […] pale in comparison with the fact that we are all woven out of time, that we are born and we die, mayflies who live but a day. The inconceivable “now” escapes backward or inclines forward, it is already a memory or an aspiration. Speech, in which we communicate, is modulated time, just like music. And do not painting and architecture translate rhythm into space?

I am filled with the memory of people who lived and died; I write about them, conscious all the while that in a moment, I, too, will be gone. Together we are like a cloud or a nebula among the human constellations of the twentieth century […] our kinship rests on our having lived at the same time…*

—Czeslaw Milosz, Time
October 16, 2017
October 16, 2017
The passing of this dear soul is just as profound as anything i can imagine.    He was born and then he moved on and so this day, is very unique.    My long time dear friend, I still can't talk about you without getting very emotional.     Thank you for visiting me in the astral plane since you have gone on to the great big ocean in the other realms
October 16, 2017
October 16, 2017
I think of Ratch often and miss his great and generous spirit. I could not have asked for a better friend and writing partner. Sail on! Peter
October 16, 2017
October 16, 2017
Time passes and so much has happened since you left us Dad. It seems both so long ago and also just like it was last month. I wish you were here to see your amazing grandkids grow- the 5 of them are wonderful, kind, funny, smart and interesting humans. You would be proud of them. xoxo
October 16, 2017
October 16, 2017
6 years....sometimes still feels like it was more recent as my heart is still raw. I think of you daily Dad. Wish you were here...as does the whole family...Lissa and I talk of you often. I'm sure you know that xoxoxoxo
November 7, 2016
November 7, 2016
The family got together last night, to watch Dad's first movie, "The Offering"- for most of us, it was our first time. It was lovely to see all of his grandkids watching him on screen, seeing how young and handsome and goofy and fun he was in the role of "Gordon". We had our annual ice cream sundaes and spent our evening together, remembering Dad/Grandpa/Ratch... 5 years and you are missed always. xoxo
October 19, 2015
October 19, 2015
I remember his great big smile and great big heart. I remember trying to type a letter for him without using white-out on his beautiful Lakefield Productions stationery. I was so nervous I kept making mistakes but he was so patient and understanding. I never said thanks for that so thank you Ratch.
Sue from Davenport House Office Services 1979
October 18, 2015
October 18, 2015
Four years already... it is hard to believe. We will be honouring you, as we do every year, on your birthday, with a family gathering and ice cream sundaes. I wish you were here to be a part of it. xoxo
October 16, 2015
October 16, 2015
Four years later and it still feels so close to my heart that you are gone. Miss you so much Dad. kxox
October 16, 2015
October 16, 2015
Four years! Now that you have the freedom of the Universe, I expect you have introduced yourself to everyone from L. Francis Herreshoff to Queen Elizabeth the First. Onward and upward, dear fellow...
October 16, 2015
October 16, 2015
Lissa...thinking of you and your family today while remembering your lovely Ratch.
October 16, 2015
October 16, 2015
Ratch, you'll always be the one stand-up men are measured up against...and found wanting. You taught me presence and followthrough. Hope you're somewhere cooking eternal (infernal?) spaghetti.
October 16, 2015
October 16, 2015
A dear friend who always had time for me. I have often wished that I was as nice as he was.
October 16, 2015
October 16, 2015
You are missed by many Ratch. Enjoy the rest my friend.
October 19, 2014
October 19, 2014
Tomorrow night, Kate, Naomi, Mom and I will be heading off to a movie... a few of your favourite girls, doing one of your favourite things. You are missing out Dad. xoxo
October 16, 2014
October 16, 2014
RIP old buddy. May you always sail into fair seas with following winds.
October 16, 2014
October 16, 2014
Ratch was stand-up, stand-tall, and stand-by-you. He got friendship right. 

--RA in tribute and love.

Sheldon
October 16, 2014
October 16, 2014
Murray McLauchlan - Moonlighting songtext

There's you standing on the swing bridge
I'm the captain on the ship below
But at six o'clock I'll get a taxi on the dock
And be an actor in a T.V. show
Well the crew don't know
And you don't know
And I don't think you should
You'd be scared to be standing there
And the crew'd jump ship for good.

Moonlightin' that's the thing for me
Moonlightin' don't allow no sleep
Well there's no business like show business
And sailin' on the roving sea.

Maybe I'm partly crazy
Maybe I'm partly cat
I figure if one life is good
More lives must be better than that
I'm the captain of a ship
I can write a script
I'm an actor when the work comes
And any actor in Canada
Ought to have more jobs than one.

Moonlightin' that's the thing for me
Moonlightin' don't allow no sleep
Well there's no business like show business
And sailin' on the roving sea.

Sometimes I wonder what's comin'
I wonder what's down the line
Maybe I'll be rich and famous
But it likely wouldn't change my mind
I do love to drive those freighters
And I do love those bright lights
Hope the next show ain't no turkey
And I stay off the rocks tonight

Moonlightin' that's the thing for me
Moonlightin' don't allow no sleep
Well there's no business like show business
And sailin' on the roving sea.
October 16, 2014
October 16, 2014
I drove over the US/Canada bridge at the Soo a while ago and stared down at the locks the Fitz never reached on the night of November 10th, 1975. I was taken back to see Ratch once again sitting across from me at our writing desk. Huge laughter and wonderful stories. Sail on, Ratch.
October 16, 2014
October 16, 2014
I was aboard the Canadian Empress this past summer and learned a greater appreciation of Ratch's skills as a Captain. Lots to know navigating the St. Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers from Kingston to Quebec City.
Ratch was certainly in his element.
Still think of you!
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Recent Tributes
October 16, 2023
October 16, 2023
12 Years Dad. This weekend, I pulled out a bunch of old photo albums and Kate, Mom and I looked at them- enjoying the memories. Sometimes it feels like 12 years, sometimes it feels like twice that. I will go for a visit to the bench on my bike soon. xo
October 16, 2023
October 16, 2023
With you in spirit today and not far behind. Cheers, Peter
November 7, 2022
November 7, 2022
Well Ratch - each time I go to the Belfry Theatre, I stop by your window to say Hi. And every once in a while, when I'm alone in the Chart Room at the yacht club, I ponder the many stories you shared with us over a glass or two. Opening Day isn't the same without you. Never far from my thoughts.
Recent stories

Toronto, Winter / Spring 1967

November 7, 2014

Cleaning out (digitizing) old pictures I came across this picture.

I was a new immigrant to Canada, barely spoke english. Somehow I hooked up with a group of people in Toronto. One of them was Ratch. This guys took it on to teach me proper english and good pronounciation.

After finding this picture I googled for Ratch and to my dismay I found this site.

RIP old friend.

Werner
 

Aboard the Seguin

October 18, 2014

Ratch was the first captain of the restored Muskoka steamship.

On our wedding anniversary, we decided on a cruise under his command.

On boarding the ship Ratch warmly greeted us and swept us up to the wheelhouse where he had placed two chairs for a commanding view, and then produced a wondrous boquet of gladiolas for us.  What a gift!  What a sweet heart.  Bless you Ratch.

Your old buddies Jean and Bruce

One heart.  One love.

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