The
following information is provided by Elaine (Ladd) Cope.
Ron served in the US Army out of high school at Fort Sill Oklahoma -
the whole time, despite his hope he'd see more of the world in the
Army! He had a military funeral with full honors. He
had lived since 1982 outside Colorado Springs,
Colorado which was where he died and was cremated. Ron was
preceeded in death by his father, Lonnie Rash. He is survived by his
mother, Wendoline, and his sister, Connie (whose married name I don't know
as she'd been widowed and then remarried). Ron worked in
surveying and engineering.
In December 1982 he married Joan Dean and they had
a brilliant daugher, Kate Rash, who was honestly so gifted in math and
science that she got a job with NASA - at a very early age! I honestly think Kate's a
genius!
A few years before his death, he divorced Joan and
later married Margaret Scanlon, from Boston, who also lived in
the country outside Colorado Springs. Margaret was extremely
devoted to Ron during that difficult time of his extended
illness. I never met her but we used to talk frequently on
the phone and I felt like I came to know her through it all.
She was a relative newcomer to Ron's life and it helped to
connect with somebody from the old days, I think, who'd known Ron since
he was a little boy. None of us friends from the old
days could make it to Ron's funeral on such short notice (he'd
been in declining health for a long time but nobody knew when the end
would really come) but we all remember him fondly - how brave and funny
and intelligent he could be!