Ron Love--Newest Honorary Member

Ron Love

Have you ever watched a motion picture that starts out in black and white and as the story line unfolds, as the characters are revealed, as substance expands, the film begins to take on color and eventually the director has the motion picture in vivid….live color. There is depth and understanding of the people on the screen? I don’t know if you relate to that, but that is how I feel when I meet people for the 1^st time. And as I learn their story, they turn from black and white to color. Most often beautiful and radiant colors.

I am privileged to bring color to a person in our club that most of you don’t really know. That person is Ron Love and he has been chosen by our board of directors to be our next HONORARY MEMBER. He is following in the esteemed footsteps of previous selected members; Margaret Larson, Don Richards, Marcia Smothers and Joe Weller. By definition, an honorary member means a member who is deemed by the membership to have made notable contributions to, and promotes the interest of the club in our community.

Ron was introduced to our club in early 1986 and became a member of this club on April fools day, of that same year. Classification….Stock Broker.

Although Ron was a stock broker in Everett, he and his wife Terri built a beautiful log home on an idyllic 5 acres of land just northwest of Arlington off of the Stanwood-Byant road where they were raising their two children, several horse and I am sure, other animals. Many parties and events were held on that property promoting various Rotary causes, but most usually, the GREAT STILLY DUCK DASH.

You see, Ron was only in our club 2 years when he championed a thought of traveling across the border to Canada to check out a rubber duck race that could possibly be a fund-raising idea for our club. That idea was adopted by our club and we launched our first Duck Dash on July 4^th , 1989. Ron personally, along with a few other intimidated friends, financially guaranteed the operation and prizes for that 1^st event. 32 years later, it is still the anchor event of our towns 4^th of July celebration and has raised several million dollars directly and indirectly to fund various large scale projects for our community as well as scholarships for high school seniors, boy scout and Fire Mountain projects, Youth Dynamics and more.

In 1990, Ron was elected president of our club and ushered the club into the era of WOMEN in Rotary. Although it may sound silly today, that was an issue that required delicacy and diplomacy. Ron had neither of those qualities…..but he did have patience and by the time he ended his presidency, we not only had women in Rotary, but we also had our first female member inducted into the Royal Order of the Ducks!! Ms Pam Carlson.

On February 9^th, 1995, just short of Ron’s 46^th birthday, he suffered a massive heart attack and shortly after that….a massive stroke that left him partially paralyzed, speechless and in cognitive. He and Terri were told that it would be a very difficult if not impossible chance of recovery. Ron struggled to recognize people and didn’t recognize or remember names of many people. He started his therapy inch by inch and as a close friend, I watched him struggle with words, speech and sentences. His days of being a stock broker were over and his whole focus was on survival and improvement.

Wife Terri Suprised Ron

Throughout this time, I never once witnessed Ron giving up. He was determined to prove himself right and the doctors wrong. Over a period of a year he had to relearn every skill that he had lost. He carried coins in his pocket so that he could practice identifying a penny, a nickel, a dime, etc. and over a long period of time, got to the point that he could actually add the coins in his head. Not only did Ron prove the doctors wrong, he self-rehabilitated through exercises that he and Terri devised. I watched him do things that most people would have succumbed to defeat...simple things, like swing a golf club, let alone hit the ball.

Despite this, Ron was our number one Duck Dash ticket seller in 2003, 8 years later. Around 2015 he and Terri bought the branding rights to Chateau DeLanz Licorice and eventually founded the Molly Loves Candy Company as well as Nasty Jacks Candy, where the slogan is, “We don’t just create a product, we create an experience.”

Ron and Terri have continued to create experiences and today our proud parents of 2 grown children, Jon and Molly, and 4 grandkids.

Editors Note: Besides inducting Ron as an Honorary Member, he was presented a Paul Harris Award by Cindy!