Our Dad, Ron, was born on May 20, 1937 in upstate New York . Unfortunately, when he was four years old, his father passed away due to complications from Rheumatic fever. While, he had a good relationship with his mother. His formative years were spent living at his grandmother’s home. Dad was a boy Scout and an acolyte at First English Lutheran Church. The pastor at this church took my father under his wing and guided him. As a young boy to earn money, my dad had a paper route. He saved enough money to buy an English bike which assisted him in growing his business. He also worked on a farm and appreciated a hard days work. During his high school years he attended split rock high school. He was the class president and played in many sports. He joined the air Force reserves. He then bought a beautiful green convertible, which ultimately would play a part in changing his life. Fortunately, for my brothers, sister and I, my mother loves cars. My mother worked at a bank in downtown in Syracuse, New York. While walking down the sidewalk, returning from her lunch break, she noted “THE CAR”. She heard the young man driving the car call out to her asking if she needed a ride. Since she didn’t have her glasses on, she had no idea it was Ron. However, she’ll admit even today if it wasn’t for the car, she wouldn’t have given him a chance. This is how my mom and dad met and they’re 68 year journey began. After a few dates, my mom’s girlfriends would ask what she thought of Ronnie. In response, my mother would let them know “ I’m all shook up.” After a relatively short courtship, Ron and Edna were engaged on 12/6/57 and then married on April 25, 1958. By December 1958, my sister Cindy was born very premature and diagnosed as profoundly deaf. Due to the expensive medical bills and specialized foods needed for Cindy, dad took on three jobs to support new his family. By 1960 my brother Scott was born and then my father was called to duty as a result of the Berlin crisis. He was stationed in Germany and mom and the kids had to move in with her father in Marcellus, New York,
While stationed in Berlin, my father’s Senior officers noted his superb writing skills and spelling abilities. They immediately brought him into their offices to write all of their reports and correspondence. One night my father had to complete night of guard duty. In Berlin, when on guard duty, a solider was issued a rifle and one single solitary bullet, no additional ammunition was provided to the young men. While on duty, my father’s senior officer addressed him, asking hm if the enemy was jumping over the west wall. What would he do? My father clarified with his officer, “the West wall sir?” the officer confirmed. Knowing that he only had one bullet, he addressed his superior. “sir, if they’re coming over the West wall, I’ll run to the east wall and jump over that wall.” My dad always had an awesome sense of humor.
When he returned from the Berlin crisis, he was back to being a wonderful family man. Throughout the next several years myself, Jon and Pat were born and we became a family of seven. During the years, my father worked with his brother John, installing heating in homes, worked for New York telephone company, sold life insurance but ultimately found his passion in sales for Goodyear tire and rubber company.
My parents purchased a trailer for small vacation getaways. They joined a trailer club called the keystone ramblers. In the evenings this group of campers would gather together around a bonfire singing songs as my dad accompanied them with his guitar. Music was my father's language and he was happy to meet any musical requests made. It's my understanding my father continued this tradition when joining the pontoon Yacht Club in Eustis, Florida. If you've ever been fortunate to be part of these gatherings, my father always had an eclectic genre of music he would share from “ just a bowl of buttered beans to king of the road as well as many Elvis songs. Dad had a good voice and perfect pitch which is a rarity. He could pick up generally any instrument fiddle with it for a few minutes and learn how to play it from guitars to keyboards he always entertained. In the early 70s, my father was offered a position in FL. We initially lived in Winter Park and then Longwood where my parents proudly purchased their first home in the neighborhood called Skylark. During this time, my dad was a traveling salesman and generally would be out of town for several nights a week. This left mom to hold down the fort. Mom and dad assisted in forming a parent support group for their deaf children. This group facilitated my sister to obtain proper schooling and more important a way to communicate with the use of sign language. My parents served in many leadership roles to form this deaf group and in doing so also formed many life-long friends, some of them are even here today. My parents and these friends worked hard to improve the lives of their children and their parents by providing advice and counsel to those in need as well as work with local government officials to secure proper busing to and to Saint Augustine for the school of the deaf and blind.
My dad also served on the Longwood historical commission and was the president of our neighborhood association. During these years, my dad worked with many community leaders, public officials and police officers. He built genuine, solid relationships with these folks. Also joining us today are a few folks that knew my parents during this time. My father was so well respected, several local government officials, including police officers often sought out his opinion in handling situations.
But dad wasn’t all business. He loved his children and worked hard to provide us a good life as well as becoming the soccer coach. My younger brothers, Jon and Pat benefited from his coaching years where he instilled within them a winning culture. There are several folks here in this celebration of his life showing their respects these many years later. This again reflects the positive impact my father had on their lives. This soccer team initially formed with children, grammar school age, named the rowdies. Initially, the rowdies was a boys and girls team of young children. My dad immediately learned that the young ladies on his team had a dirt aversion. So, one of the workout routines prior to any game was a moment of rolling around in the dirt to get past this hurdle however he didn’t envision the search for flowers that would occur at the blow the whistle. The team evolved through the next few years to a pack of very talented young men. I traveled with my family and witnessed many exciting games. One game we reminisce about on many occasions, involved a skilled coach, coach Steadman. His team was the team to beat. As you can imagine this was a nailbiter game. During this game, father noted their defensive strategy was to consistently push their defensive players, this left the goal unprotected. The flaw in this approach was that the Rowdies also had many skilled players. One particular young man on the Rowdies had a thunderous kick. During a break, my father pulled this young man aside and instructed him to kick the ball over the heads of all the defenders and into the goal. Billy Langston then did just that and the Rowdies won the game. A lot of great memories and wonderful people entered and exited our lives, but several stayed and are wonderful additions to our family’s lifelong friendships.
This coaching adventure grew into a large commitment by my parents with Seminole soccer club. Several of the leaders in this group, including my father, mortgaged their homes to purchase land off Longwood Lake Mary Road and built the first Seminole soccer club facility. This facility provided a location of many soccer fields, allowing families to enjoy watching their children play soccer and win championships through the years. My dad may have been the front man but Mom and dad were always a team. Mom was always there as dad’s back-up making sure all the T’s were crossed and the I’s dotted.
While all these things were happening, my father still balanced working his job as a traveling tire salesman. He was commonly referred to as the tire guy everyone trusted. This enabled him to provide sold financial support for his support his family. Then Kelly Springfield, division of Goodyear, tapped him to move on up through the ranks. My parents moved to Virginia and then Maryland. Dad excelled in his career in the Home Office and worked his way further up through the ranks. Mom and dad enjoyed several company trips, again making friends along the way.
Then in 1993, mom and dad returned to Florida and dad, somewhat retired, back driving around in his sales position. Dad continued to work hard providing for both of them and they joined a fun-loving group called the pontoon yacht club. This club had many outings and celebrations which are fine memories for both my mother and father. We are fortunate to have several of those folks here with us celebrating my dad’s life today.
Ultimately, our father provided our family and friends with a wonderful journey full of adventure, lessons and laughter. All of this while experiencing his fun-loving approach and great story telling. We, his children, hope to follow his footsteps. Reflecting what we have learned from his leadership and continue the drive for excellence in our lives he instilled and finally, to always to reach for success while having fun along the way.
After this funeral service, we do welcome all of you to join us at Lakeside Memorial Gardens and then for a reception at my parent’s home. At this time, please feel welcome to come up to this podium and share any memories here at this service or be sure to share any fun stories you have of my dad with our family today at the reception. For 68 years, Ron and Edna were always a team and loved each other immensely. While my dad will be missed, our love for him is unending.
- Kathleen Byers
