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September 28, 2009

Ransonette, “Jingles the Clown,” dies at 77

MARY MEAUX

Harold “Red” Ransonette, otherwise known as Jingles the Clown, died on Monday.

For more than half a century, Ransonette, 77, donned suits made by his wife, Ruby, and brought laughter to people of all ages.

“He always said ‘being a clown isn’t what I do, it’s what I am,’” Laurie Anderson, Ransonette’s daughter, said during a phone interview on Monday.

Growing up with a clown as a father wasn’t something Anderson dwelled on back then.

“I didn’t realize it growing up with a father that was a clown different from other people,” Anderson, of Beaumont, said. “He taught himself to juggle, ride a unicycle, magic and make balloon animals and my mom made his clown suits.”

Anderson paid tribute to his later father in her online blog where she refers readers to blog entries about her Ransonette. In a 2007 entry Anderson recalls a few things that were different from other households including a father who would try out new tricks and jokes on the family, know jokes for every occasion and tell them constantly and “come to meals in full clown make-up scaring the new in-laws” because he didn’t have time to change between parties.

Ransonette was featured in a story in The News that ran in the April 2007 edition, written by Darragh Doiron. At that time Ransonette was being honored by a local Sertoma club for his services.

A Port Arthur native, Ransonette’s hobby began while at Bishop Byrne High School in Port Arthur. He and friends Raymond Salazar and Tommy Allen performed some comedy and at frat parties, they lip-synched to Spike Jones, Homer and Jetro and Stan Freberg records. When Hughen School was still in a wood frame house, they were entertaining there. March of Dimes and veterans got their services as well.

The Army and other interests separated them and Ransonette went to work at Texaco. He retired from the machinist department after 42 years.

Decades ago he created Jingles.

“I used to put bells on my toes, but for hospital visits, they asked me to take the bells off,” he said in the 2007 interview.

Jingles entertained children at the Shriners’ Burn Hospital in Galveston and other hospitals. The Ransonettes have also worked with St. Jude’s Children Cancer Hospital in Memphis for many years.

In the late 1960s, Ransonette worked for McDonald’s on weekends traveling to five states as “Ronald McDonald,” a job he had for fifteen years. As “Ronald McDonald,” he also appeared in the Cotton Bowl Parade in Dallas and the Orange Bowl Parade in Florida.

For Ransonette, Hughen School was his favorite place to entertain. He always said of the children, “Their little bodies may be limited, but not their minds and spirit.” In the 1950s and 1960s he began to teach swimming to the children there which enriched his life immensely.

Anderson looked back on her father’s life and said it is rare to run into someone who hasn’t been to a birthday party with Jingles the Clown.

Services for Ransonette will me at 10 a.m. Wednesday, at St. Jude Thaddeus Catholic Church with a committal service to follow at Broussard’s Crematorium under the direction of Broussard’s Mortuary, 1605 North Major Drive, Beaumont.

A Christian Vigil will be 7 p.m. Tuesday, at Broussard’s in Beaumont.

Memorial contributions may be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Tribute Program, P.O. Box 1000, Department 142, Memphis, Tennessee 38148.

mmeaux@panews.com

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