Saturday, January 23, 2021
Dear Renee and Kevin,
I was saddened to learn of Ron’s passing…aka “Pepere”.
The photo the family chose... does him great honor as to who he was in this lifetime. I was so blessed to be his neighbor for a period of time ...and so blessed to call him my friend.
Often times he would invite me to sit outdoors with him around his campfire in the late summer’s evenings. It is here I got to know who he was. He loved those campfires…the fire…the snap and pop of the burning logs…the smoke rising and pleasing scent on those summer nights. Now widowed he so missed his wife Elizabeth…speaking so loving and tenderly of her. I think for him he tried to recapture those loving memories …. as he spoke so fondly of her and him in times past... of their camping on the lake shores... and sitting around a summer campfire….after a day of trail riding the woods with their beloved horses.
Ron would be reminiscing about days of long ago…and before you knew it he would disappear into his house …returning with his cherished photographs…sharing with great joy those stories of his wife…his children…his horses and such. In all those stories…I don’t recall him ever having a bit of regret of anything.
Not a wealthy man…he was exceedingly generous with what he did have.
Ron was a man of deep faith and was so devoted to God. We would sit around those campfires... having such deep conversations about life and love and God. He would stoke that fire with wood as our deep conversations about God often times brought us late into the night…me returning home with flashlight in hand.
When I see that photo of Ron sitting in his boat…it evokes such joy to know he is at home with Jesus!! I would like to imagine Jesus speaking to him…”Follow Me”….Ron climbed into his boat….and so he did!!!
With Much Love
And Condolences,
Jeanne
“And Jesus said to them…”Follow me and I will make you fishers of men...” Matthew 4:19
