Ronny and I started dating in High
School and dated for the next seven years. After graduation
he served active duty for two years in the U.S. Navy. When
he came home, we got married on July 13,1963 after my
graduation from UT. He was manager of Dale’s Auto Parts.
We started our family in 1965 with our daughter Tami and in
1968 our other daughter Lissa was born. They were the
apples of our eyes and still are. In 1972 we opened Ronny’s
Auto Parts and one year later opened Dripping Springs Auto
Parts. After 14 years he retired. Many of his customers
and employees became our life long friends.
One of the most important part of our lives
began when our daughters got married - Tami to Richard Scott
and Lissa to John Bentley. He was very proud of their
choices. They gave us our wonderful grandsons Cody, Brandon
and Cameron. Besides the three women in his life, he
adored our three grandsons, and the feeling was mutual.
He was their hero.
Tami and Lissa surprised us on our 40th
anniversary with a fifties party, and even Elvis came.
It was fabulous!!
Ronny was a “people” person and decided he
wanted to work part time by driving for Enterprise. He
absolutely loved this job and could hardly wait to go to
work on Monday morning. His most important job was to make
coffee for all the employees.
One of his favorite things to do was join
family and friends at different Austin venues to listen to
live music. He loved going to Hill’s on Friday night to
listen to Sam Bentley, Evangelines on Monday night for Cajun
music and anyplace where Kevin Fowler was playing; he felt
very “special” when Kevin put us on his guest list.
Another favorite hobby was to visit the Bowie farm where his
grandson, Cody was in FFA and raised a pig and a steer. He
was called the "Security Guard", at the farm.
He was also very close to his brothers, Monte
and Gary and his sisters Nancy and Peggy and all of their
children.
Ronny was diagnosed with cancer in March,
2008, had surgery and went through 31 radiation treatments,
along with chemo. His treatment was very painful and took
its toll on him. We celebrated our 45th wedding anniversary
in the hospital, and his nurses came in singing with a
cake. He put up a very brave fight, but developed pneumonia
and died on July 25, 2008.
We miss him terribly, and many tears are
still shed. I am grateful for our love and all of the
wonderful years and memories. I try to focus on not what we
have lost, but the many happy years we had with him.
