Cleatus H. Rattan, 87, Texas Poet Laureate of 2004, died October 7, 2023 in Los Angeles, California with his loving son Jason by his side. He died of heart failure after a brief illness.
He was born on October 14, 1935 in Irving, Texas and was the only son of Lena Mae and Cleatus H. Rattan, Sr. Cleatus attended Irving High School where he was a standout athlete and met friends who were by his side throughout his life. After high school, Cleatus enrolled at Southern Methodist University where he was on the football team, pledged the Kappa Alpha fraternity, and found treasured friends. He left SMU to enlist in the United States Marine Corps where he served four years and attained the rank of Sergeant. While serving in the Marine Corps, Cleatus developed a lifelong interest in literature that he pursued when he enrolled at the University of North Texas (UNT). At UNT, Cleatus met the love of his life, Connie Hood (Rattan) in a French class. He earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from UNT and he and Connie were married in 1961. Cleatus later obtained a master’s in education from UNT, a master’s in fine arts from SMU and a Ph.D. in education from Texas A&M Commerce where he was later named a Distinguished Alumnus for his contributions to Poetry and Literature.
Cleatus and Connie moved to Cisco, Texas where Cleatus taught English at Cisco College until he was named the Mayborn Professor of English at Mary Hardin Baylor University. Cleatus was a prolific and distinguished poet who authored numerous collections of poetry (135 Miles to Dallas and The Border are among the published collections) and was published in hundreds of scholarly journals. He was recognized with the Texas Review Poetry Prize, the Mesquite Prize, the New Texas Poetry Prize and the Texas Senate and State House selected him as the Texas State Poet Laureate in 2004.
