Eulogy for Friend

Eulogy for Friend

My name is Deborah, and I’m one of Ron’s many friends. Karen asked me to share about Ron from a biker’s point of view.

At many memorial services, eulogies are sort of like fish stories. Mean people are suddenly remembered as good-natured, self-centered people as generous, sinners as saints. Positive traits are exaggerated, negative ones swept under the rug.

But today, it’s not necessary to stretch the truth. With Ron, what you saw was what you got. He refused to play games with people, and he was adamant that he “didn’t have time for nonsense” like politics and petty disputes. What he DID have time for was people. He was amazingly attuned to other people’s feelings.

In my case, Ron would always notice if I started getting tired and quiet while we were riding. He noticed before my husband of 30 years did—before I did myself!—and would invariably stroll over with a handful of Tootsie Roll Pops and pink bubble gum to give me a sugar shot. Once he discovered that I shared his enthusiasm over Tootsie Roll Pops, he always made sure to keep a big enough stash to “cover” me on trips.

He was attuned in other ways as well. On group rides, I usually take the tailgunner position at the end of the pack, which means that I sometimes have to babysit unskilled riders who constantly speed up and slow down, or who fall back so far that the rest of the group vanishes from sight. I usually don’t mind, but now and then when somebody who should know better rides like that, it drives me crazy. Ron would always sense when I was getting frustrated, and at the next stop he’d say, “Why don’t I ride at the back for a while and give you a break?” He didn’t make a big deal out of it, but he helped keep rides fun for many of us.

Ron was master of a thousand small kindnesses.

He also took setbacks in stride, small and large ones alike. One time we were heading south toward Austin, and Ron and Karen were riding in front of me. Suddenly there was a small and colorful explosion on the road behind their bike. I looked down and saw pills--lots of little pills!--bouncing in every direction. Then two more explosions occurred, and this time I saw that the bottles were coming from their T-bag.