My friendship with Ron dates back to 1988 when we me at a training group on Gabriola Island. Over the years, we stayed in contact, for a few years when I lived in Calgary, and over the decades since I moved back to the west coast. Ron was at my 25th birthday party, at my wedding, and my father's Celebration of Life, and I could count on him to be caring and compassionate every visit or telephone call we had. He was a character, able to find humour in any experience, whether it was positive or negative. He was strongly principled and ethical and expected himself and others to be fair and kind. Many years ago, Ron, his mother, Michael and Leo joined me and my family for Christmas dinner in Victoria, and from that day on, he would not stop raving about my mother's Christmas stuffing. Every year at Christmas he would jokingly request that my mother ship him a package of stuffing, either by train or plane. Ron was a great cook and would spend hours researching new recipes and then more hours cooking in the kitchen, often for at least twice the number of people than were invited to dinner. Most recently, pre-pandemic, Ron and Michael invited us to join them in the mountains and introduced us to their special spots in Canmore, Johnston Canyon, Baker Creek and Nipika. Ron shared his love for the Three Sisters Mountain with us, wanting to make sure that my daughter understood the magnificence of this mountain. I really appreciated Ron's connection to nature and his love for travel. I learned that Ron had passed away while I was travelling in Europe and from that point until the end of the trip, each time we would go to a Cathedral we would spend some time in quiet prayer to Ron. I feel a void in my heart knowing that I will not see Ron again, and I treasure my memories of the moments that our paths crossed.
