250 Ron’s Farewell 18th May 2023
A large group of 20+ Members and their partners attended Ron’s funeral service at Olsens Sutherland Chapel. Ron’s 650 Yamaha was ridden to the service by his son in law Scott and it had been nicely detailed for the occasion by his mate Ron.
Inside the chapel Ron’s helmet and jacket adorned the casket and symbols of Ron’s life and interests were on display. The chapel was packed out and overflowed into the adjoining room.
Ron Derkson and Bob Thompson, both long time mates of Ron spoke of the many things Ron got up to in his younger days as a kid and later as a charter bus driver and tour leader. They had us all laughing at the stories they told and his daughter Lauren continued with the remarkable story of Ron’s life and his ability to make us all smile.
After having worked with Ron for 16 years at Sutherland Hospital it was easy for me to visualize the “let’s do it and bugger the consequences” attitude Ron had to having fun in his younger days.
Many of us will remember Ron rattling the can at meetings as he raised a fantastic $1173 for Ronald McDonald House and he backed that up a short time later raising hundreds of dollars for CareFlight, all on his own initiative.
Before he fell ill, Ron led us on rides to HARS at Albion Park, the Australian Motorlife Museum and the Museum of Fire at Penrith amongst others, always an interesting and well supported day out.
We said our final farewells at the end of the Service and headed to Tradies at Gymea. The family provided refreshments before a huge quantity of Ron’s favourite custard tarts were served.
I think even those that don’t normally eat custard tarts had one in memory of a man who made us all laugh in life and even after his passing.
RIP Mate.
