David Edward Ranney

David Edward Ranney, age 77, of Bellingham passed away at the Whatcom Hospice House on Sunday, September 4, 2022. He was born November 12, 1944 in Orange, California to parents Kenneth and Marjorie (Lauderbach) Ranney.

Coming from a tennis playing family, David started playing in tournaments at age 10 and was a big name on the youth tennis circuit, ranking as high as #6 in the country in 18 under singles and #3 in under 18 doubles. He played on the Junior Davis Cup team in 1962. He was on the U.S.C. tennis team when they won three national championships. He was a teaching pro for many years at the Palm Springs tennis club.

David's life passion was tennis and the mental part of the game. After being introduced to Tim Gallwey's book, The Inner Game of Tennis he began exploring how to attain the calmness and focus while under pressure in tournaments. He eventually wrote a book himself, Play the Mental Game, giving practical techniques to achieve this.  Many of the techniques can be applied to any kind of tournament play when the pressure is on. He went on to write about how this could translate over to baseball, basketball, and most recently, pickleball, helping many to improve their game, and through relaxing, enjoy it more.

David  worked for many years with AA Sports out of Portland, OR. timing running events. He wrote the software for the results and at one point invented a timing device that was put together by two engineering friends from Boeing. They covered most of the big running events on the West Coast and often Travis and Jordan would join David to help at the finish lines or to enter data.

He continued to play tennis throughout his life, competing and winning many tournaments in singles and doubles. In later years when tennis became too much of a challenge he took up pickleball and applied the same techniques, teaching others along the way. He mentored and coached many others to reach their full potential.

David is survived by his wife, Lorraine Bourcier; children, Travis and Jordan (Nathan Smith); grandsons, Alexander Montes and Matthew; his brother, Gilbert Ranney (Diane), sister, Sylvia and many nieces and nephews.

We'd like to especially thank the nurses and doctors at Whatcom Hospice, in particular, Suzanne, for the outstanding care over the last few months.

We will be having a celebration of life on Thursday, October 6th at Roeder Home, 2600 Sunset Drive, Bellingham WA., 98225. There will be a formal service from 1:00 to 2:00 and Open House from 2:00 to 5:00. All are welcome who would like to come and join us in this celebration of David's life.