Obituary of Ronald David Price

Ronald David Price 1937 ~ 2013 Ron was born on February 1, 1937 in Duncan, British Columbia. He passed away on January 5, 2013 in Dawson Creek, British Columbia at 75 years of age. He is survived by his wife Phyllis, children: Ken (Erin) Price, and Janelle Price, grandchildren: Prestin Sorken, Alicia Sorken, Jackson Price, and Wyatt Sorken, siblings: Cliff Price, Gloria Hobenshield, William (Helmy) Price, Nancy (Gerry) Bolen, and Mavis Smaha "To live in the hearts of those we leave behind is not to die" - Clyde Campbell Ron's Full Eulogy Ronald David Price, or more well-known by all of us, Ronald MacDonald, or Kens name for him "the Ronster", lived, loved and laughed lots in South Dawson, Dawson Creek, BC. He passed away peacefully Jan.5, 2013 at 75 yrs of age. Born to John and Claudia Price in Duncan BC Feb. 1, 1937 the fifth of six children. Ron, well here I am supposed to talk about Ron's schooling a bit, well I think that would be it, "a bit of schooling"; him having left the formal confines of the school-house early to work at home on the family farm and saw-mill in Houston BC. That, however would not slow him down as he learned constantly in the school of life. At 14 years old, he left the farm to work on road construction where he was a pioneer, equipment operator and had some trucks. Somewhere along the way he learned how to make any machine run, this would serve him well throughout life, later, he would pass his knowledge onto his son Ken. He met Phyllis Hamilton in Prince George BC through a mutual friend. Meeting her when she went to buy a car from him, which she did, and then after they were married...he resold the car, it was classic Ron. They were married in 1966 in Prince George; in 1966 along came Kenneth Robert Price, and then in 1969, Ron bought his first CATERPILLAR and they moved to Houston BC and Janelle Margaret Price was born. After that a house was bought in the North Nechako area of Prince George and he moved his young family there. He worked construction jobs in the PG/Caribou area. In 1974 he popped over the mountains and bought land in a place called Dawson Creek, and in 1975 he moved his family and proceeded to home-stead a quarter section in the South Dawson area. Not all of the land was cleared for farming, so Ron then proceeded to single-handedly clear and break it for farm use. Industrious and single-minded about taking great care of his family, Ron and Phyllis began grain-farming, then cattle later on. During the winter or even the summer, when not farming Ron would still work off the farm on construction jobs. Ron's interests ran to pretty much everything, he was a sponge for knowledge, if you said it or did it he was interested & wanted to know all about it: how, who, what, where, when & why...he was not very shy about asking either. He would circle around a project & people, even his family were often unaware it was indeed a "project", until, like a mad scientist, he was building it or reconstructing it in his shop, from big projects, the saw-mill, the CAT, the press, and the Lathe' right on down to the steroidal chop-saw, gate-latches and even little horse casts. Even before the shop was finished, the basement became a mini-hanger for the remote-controlled air-planes him and Ken built. Ron LOVED flying, he was and avid pilot. He owned and flew: a Champion, a Super-Cub PA18, a Cessna 180 and a Cessna 185. Ron and his neighbor Boyd Boehler once rebuilt the Super-cub in the family garage in PG. He flew on all kinds of landing gear, wheels, maybe too traditional So he often changed it up for skis, and floats. Perhaps best remembered for the float planes; hrs of "hanging-out" at the sea-plane base by the airport, kids catching dragonflies while he waxed his plane. They think, mostly he just wanted to pet it. The memorable family trips with Phyllis air-sick...all the time...and the vacation destinations like the cabin at Kid-Price lake...ALOT of squirrels, all I'm gonna say... Well that and Ken fly-fishing and catching Phyllis in the face, and perhaps best of all, the falls there at the end of the lake, where they were supposed to be taking off from, but weren't! In the middle of the lake, plane dead in the water, Ken &Janelle getting handed a paddle and told to start paddling while Ron ran back and forth through the cab of the plane from float to float, checking things... Hi-anxiety, as they floated ever closer to the falls... But, as he always did and always would, Ron saved the day and off they flew. Another time he was flying to Smithers and his gas got turned off, he took off and ended up emergency landing on his floats in a barley field just about 1/2 mile away from the farm, saved the day again, his plane suffered nary a scratch, with only a slight wrinkling in the skin on one side. Animals... he loved his critters, a large contributing factor to Ken & Janelle's state today. He instilled a great love of animals, and the farming way of life in his children. They don't ever remember a time when they didn't have pets and after moving to DC, livestock, which, as he demonstrated, could also be house-pets. Many a calf & even a foal would end up in their tub & then get blown-dry before being sent back out to it's mother. By the end of his mid-wife career though, Phyllis had put her foot down...so then he just slept out in the barn with the expectant mares until their time...then phone the house and yes, there were alot of 3am false-alarms...but he was always of the opinion that you can't be too careful. He was always there when Janelle needed help with the horses and as concerned or heart-broken as she was when things went bad, and as equally thrilled to watch them be born an grow up healthy & happy. He loved to watch Ken work his Border Collies, and was always amazed when moving cattle became so simplistic with Ken on a quad working two dogs at a time to get the job done. The dog, cat or any other animal that inhabited this earth had not been created that wouldn't interest him, as he grew older he would watch them for hours on TV, they would always amaze him. Our planet fascinated him, he had all kinds of rock-hound gear, from rock saws to his rock polisher, Ron and the kids used to look for all kinds of rocks to polish up, he loved gold-panning, the whole idea of an earth filled with buried treasure. He would go to work and bring home all kinds of goodies, from a Burl in a tree where he was clearing to the infamous bees' nests. The telescope took up a life of semi-permanent residence in the front room as he would spend hours at night looking through it at the planets and stars, showing Ken & Janelle the wonders of our galaxy. In 2002, a much mellower Ron saw his first grandchild Jackson Kenneth-Ross Price born, he would become the brightest sun of Ron's life. Five years later when Ken married Erin 3 more step- grandchildren where added, Prestin, Alicia and Wyatt. In Early November of 2011 Ron's failing health became an issue and he was admitted to the DC Hospital where he was always very pleased with his healthcare providers. Even then, until the end, life was still a great adventure...