bob reier's eulogy

The Ron That I Know

All of us here today have known Ron in one capacity or another: Dad, husband, uncle, co-worker, sailor, boss, but there was one thing in which Ron truly excelled. This quality always showed itself when were going some place in the car and I was the driver. Ron was the most skilled and accomplished.even gifted, back-seat-driver I.ve ever known. He even had a back-seat-driver.s license. Ron has had many titles, but to most of us here, we knew Ron as--Friend. I.m sure that all of you have special memories of Ron, but I would like to take just a few minutes to share with you, the Ron that I know.

At times like this we like to tell about some dramatic and heroic things a person did. I.m going to tell you of 3 heroic things Ron did. When you hear them, they will sound ordinary, not heroic.But they were heroic to me.

You will see that these three seemingly little things that Ron did for me as a friend demonstrate some of the qualities that were in the scripture that was just read.

First, 37 years ago my wife Dotty and I moved to S. 30th Street and became neighbors of Ron and Susie, John and Beatty Brasch, Bob and Stanly Rediger, Bill and Susan Peters, and many others. The people on the block had a party for the couple who was moving away and they invited us to come so it became a combination going-away party for them and a welcome to the neighborhood party for us.

We were overwhelmed by the number of people we met and whose names I promptly forgot. It must have been obvious to Ron because what he did was take me in the kitchen, tear out a blank check from his checkbook, and draw a diagram of the houses on 30th St. on the back of the check. Then he put the names of the people by the house they lived in and gave it to us. That unexpected, thoughtful act was a big help to us in being able to call our new neighbors by name and feeling at home much more quickly than would have happened otherwise.

On another occasion, several years ago, I was having a bad time. I don.t remember what brought it on but I was really feeling down for several days. Ron apparently noticed because one day he came over and said, .Let.s go for a ride.. So we did. We drove out in the country south of town and he just drove around. We talked a little and looked at the scenery for a couple of hours and came back home. I felt better--but it wasn.t because of the ride in the country. It was because I realized that Ron thought enough of me to notice that I needed something and he gave of his time to do what he could for a friend.

One last thing. Ron retired before I did and he and a group of his retired friends from Square D played golf every week during the summer and played cards every week all year long. When I retired 15 years ago, Ron invited me to join them, so I did. Because Ron shared his friendship, and his friends with me, for the past 15 years, I have had a group of guys who I now consider very good friends.

Arthur Ashe, an international tennis champion, once gave this definition of heroism. .One definition of heroism is that it is very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost.. This describes Ron.s heroism.

Even though these 3 things Ron did for me might be considered ordinary, I consider them heroic, and I.m thankful that I had him for a friend for 37 years.