On December 2nd, 2018, Sullivan lost a great guy in general and a great Conservationist in the Sullivan area. Not many knew it, but he was also an aviator back in his early days and I only became aware of it when I read his obit.  Many of us on the Sullivan Fire Department back in the good old days…the 70`s, 80`s, and 90`s…met Ron when he transferred to the Sullivan District Office of the Missouri Conservation Department as District Forester, as Manager of the District.  Ron was a quiet kinda guy with a subtle sense of humor, but you could tell that he truly cared about his people and the local firefighters and departments in his district. Whenever Ron would visit with us at the fire station on Springfield Ave at Church Street, he was often accompanied by Mike Reavis…who we often saw more of…Mike was Ron`s right hand man and they were a well-oiled machine whatever work they were doing for the Conservation Department. Ron was very instrumental in obtaining state grants to purchase radios, hoselines, pumps, surplus jeeps, brush trucks, and personnel carriers and other types of equipment that would enable our department to better fight not only natural cover and brush fires, but other emergencies as well. When I was a junior firefighter, Ron and Mike helped us obtain four surplus jeeps and then they helped us build them into brush fire jeeps, giving us multiple rakes, water packs with hoses, and fire resistant long sleeve shirts to wear at brush fires. A few years later, they obtained a surplus personnel carrier for us, we were able to put five inch pipe around it to make it nearly invincible and safe for forest fires, yet we were able to use it at other emergency incidents as well…they assisted in obtaining an air trailer unit for us that we were able to take to structure fires to refill air bottles…they knew we were interested in an aerial unit so they found an old Air Force surplus truck with a boom and basket on it…while we tried it out in training, we didn`t feel it would work for us due to the age and size of it. However, they never let that stop them from trying to help us until we got on solid ground as a fire district and were able to make our own equipment purchases. Even when we reached that level, they still provided us with rakes for forest and brush fires, shirts, gloves, and continued to help us with grants for portable pumps and leaf blowers. Ron was not one of those managers confined to a desk, either…when we were short on help, he would come help us rake and build the fire lines in the wooded areas, or backfire the lines…I felt lucky to get a photo of him walking out of the woods one day, once we had the fire under control…not many knew it at the time, several thought he was headed back to the office, but he was actually on his way to another fire to help out again….

The only other job I saw Ron take on occasionally, was wearing the Smokey Bear suit…most of the time others took on this role, but one day I spotted Smokey during Fire Prevention Week at St Anthony`s School, the older school building, and when I saw Mike Reavis was standing next to him doing the talk wtih the schoolchildren, I knew right then who Smokey was…it was a great role for him to play……Smokey would often shake hands or give hugs to the kids, he didn`t talk at all, so Ron was a perfect match for the role. 

Ron retired after 38 years with the Missouri Conservation Department and I am sure he was missed then, as he is now.  Rest in peace my friend, Job Well Done.