Ronald Reece

Ron Reece Thoughts and Stories October 19, 2006

Ron Reece was born the eldest child of Paul Eugene Reece and Beulah (Crouch) Reece in Vicksburg, Michigan. He led a charmed life right from the beginning, and his many scrapes with fate throughout his life remain a testament to his vitality. He once said, "You have no idea how many funerals I have attended." Fate and good fortune held off his own funeral against some very high odds for many, many years. Ron had to forsake an entire year of elementary school to spinal meningitis, and another long period of recovery from multiple fractured bones after a fall from the top of a windmill on the farm. Much later, as a young adult, Ron's leg was caught in and partially mangled by a huge paper machine at the Lee Paper Company in Vicksburg. In each instance, his personal and physical strength won out.

Ron's life went far beyond the notion of funeral. He carried friends and family to their resting place with the same industry, integrity, and energy he gave to everything else in life. His incredible will to be and to do breathed a special life into all others, infusing entire generations of his own families and, perhaps, an entire community, too. It is not possible that Ron Reece has died. We reject this fact, and he lives with us still.

Ron lived on a farm during his boyhood, and while he left the farm for college and to begin his career in education, the core values he learned during his rural farm upbringing remained with him always. Just two days before he was taken from us, he said, "By God, if I say I am going to do something, I'm gonna do it."

For the most part, Ron grew up on the family farm in Wakeshma Township, a mile west of Fulton, where he went to elementary school. His life was centered on five main concerns. Working on the family farm, school, playing sports, family matters, and membership in the Evangelical and United Brethren Church. It's at that church and those Fulton schools where Ron began to cement his future life. Wakeshma Township and its little village was a special place back then, and no story of Ron's life would be complete without talking about the Snyders, an amazing family of two parents, then four boys, and finally six girls, whose lives became completely intertwined with the life of Ron Reece.

At Vicksburg High School, where he graduated from in 1958, Ron was a popular student, athlete, and leader. He played football, basketball, and baseball, and he dated his soon bride-to-be, Diane Snyder, a cheerleader and member of the band. Ron knew early on he and Diane were destined to wed, as well.

Ron watched and waited in the Reece pew at the Fulton Church as one after another of the lovely, confident, indomitable Snyder girls were married there. Soon, it would be his turn, and he was married to the ninth Snyder child, Diane, who became his wife of nearly fifty years, and truly his soulmate. It was a relationship, a true partnership, and a marriage that fit perfectly to his career and his calling. Ron was a supremely confident person, and he believed in himself, but always standing next to him was Diane, whom he knew from the beginning, could "do it all." Over their lifetime together, Ron and Diane did just that, they did it all.

LEADERSHIP

Ron was a natural, gifted leader, but he was grounded in the same earth upon which his family farm thrived. Ron led his Reece family to high levels of achievement in education. Ron was an educator who believed that there should be a course of study, a true curriculum that really mattered. He believed that education should be available to all, and Ron lived by this as a school superintendent.

He was a very public man. As a teacher, coach, editor, columnist, and, for nearly thirty years, a school superintendent, Ron Reece remained in the public eye. He was called upon to lead, to be responsible, to render his opinions and decisions with fairness and aplomb. The eyes of others were always on him, and he never flinched.

SPECIAL INTERESTS

Ron had so many special interests that it is difficult to give them all justice. He must have been one of the most prolific "chair caners" in the entire country, and restored countless other items of furniture. He certainly had more Crescent wrenches and screwdrivers than anyone in six counties. He loved new tools and contraptions, but he loved older ones better. He never passed up an auction, a garage sale, a sporting event, or especially, a conversation. He could spin yarns ad nauseam, and listened with a lively eye and a puckish smile as others spun theirs. He loved history and historical places. His travels to Washington D.C., Lansing, and so many other places of distinction were frequent high points in his years.

HANDWRITING AND WRITING IN GENERAL

Throughout his life, Ron's printing and handwriting script were beautiful. He prided himself in having a neat, pleasant, and readable style. His prose was careful and correct, and he wrote often and with great seriousness.

FRIENDS AND FAMILY

Ron (along with Diane) was completely devoted to the children while they were growing up, and they have held to wonderful family friendships on both the Reece and Snyder sides of the family. More than all else, he acted as though his family members and friends were the best that one could have. Siblings, nieces, nephews, his own children, grandchildren, friends and extended family members, spouses of family members, all were seriously and honestly considered special by him.

Ron and Diane also found time to make new friendships and rekindle old ones over the years. In addition to a completely full schedule of work around the house, children and grandchildren's activities, church and choir work, and a vast number of committee and volunteer commitments, Ron and Diane somehow kept up with friends, new and old, for decades.

HUMOR

Ron loved to laugh, and his sparkling gray eyes were ever ready to follow the train of jest or joke to the punch lines. He would laugh so hard in long, soundless, wrenching laughter that his mother as well as others would often fear that he would "bust a gut." He loved to have fun, and worked hard to find fun in his life.

CHARITY

Ron and Diane have long exhibited a generosity well beyond their means. They have supported scholarships and schools, but more importantly, scholars. They have a long history of assisting the needy, supporting their church's activities, as well as assisting other community programs. Ron gave what he had and what he could afford. Though careful with his money, he took great pride in being able to help those less fortunately them he. His generosity to relatives is legendary in the family, and he was quick to support the charitable efforts of others.

LEADFOOT

Ron may have backed off somewhat in recent years, but his driving habits were legendary and often extremely dangerous. He had one of the heaviest feet in the county, and he had the tickets to prove it. Perhaps far worse, though no one ever suffered form it other than experiencing personal fear, if someone with whom he was having a conversation were sitting in the back seat while he was driving, he was much more likely to be turned around looking at this person than watching the road in front of him.

ENERGY AND EXUBERANCE

Ron Reece was a very energetic person. He was ever early to rise. Visiting friends or relatives, Ron would often get up and experience nearly a full day of exploration and discovery before the hosts were awake. He could fill a vacation day with so many activities that it would be mind-boggling to the rest of the group as they shared their thoughts later a night. He had an unquenchable appetite for people and prospects, and he brought such a friendly, inviting aspect to his relations with others that people of all ages felt easy in his company.

CHARACTER

Ron had a very strong sense of purpose and pride throughout his life, and in the truest test of a man's character, he had a strong and accurate view of himself. He prized integrity, industry, and intelligence. His view of the world included the history, the present, and his plans and views of the future. His sense of justice was strong, and his love of family, friends, his country, and life in general was free and unselfconscious. In short, he was a man of high, self-evident character, and the life of Ron Reece deserves to be emulated by the rest of us.