Ronald Dean Schoesler

Ronald Dean Schoesler, 83, died on Feb. 16 in Portland, OR. He was born on June 10, 1932 to Harold and Ruby Schoesler.

Ronald was always a dapper dresser, pie and coffee lover, teacher and dreamer. He was the youngest son of Ruby (Thiel) and Harold Schoesler having two older sisters, Thelma (Plager-deceased) of Seattle and Joan (Robinson) of Union OR. Ron (Ronnie) was born and grew up in the small farming community of Ritzville where he played high school football, basketball and track, and was known as the Ritzville Flash. He held state records in the long jump and 100 yard dash for quite a few years of which he was particularly proud. He kept active his entire life taking up tennis and still jogging well into his 70’s.

He married Irene (Schmidt) Rome, later divorcing and they had two daughters, Jill Bogle of Beaverton, OR., Karen Jackson of Bellingham, and a son, Jason (deceased, 1988).

Summers when the kids visited him he took them on adventures to the Sea Lion Caves, Crater Lake, Wallowa Lake and the Pixie Kitchen in Lincoln City (always a must). He liked to travel locally and dreamed of going farther.

Together, the girls gave him six grandsons ages 29-22 and one granddaughter who turned 17 on Valentine’s Day.

Ron began his teaching career at Lewis and Clark High School in Spokane after graduating from Whitworth College. He served two years in the Army assigned to Korea and Japan in 1953-54.

He later taught at both WSU in Pullman and OSU in Corvallis where he received his doctorate in Education.

He always enjoyed working with young people although a bit of his family pioneer spirit returned when he started his own landscape business in Eastern Oregon for a time before returning to teaching.

He liked puttering in his yard and was especially fond of red geraniums.

However, he never could remember the difference between perennial and annual flowers! Several summers he spent working on his brother-in-law’s ranch outside of La Grande, OR. A job he especially enjoyed, although the work was hard, there was much joking and laughter to be had.

He later settled in Tigard Oregon and taught beginning keyboarding and Windows (1990) at Portland Community College. He taught there part time for nearly 18 years.

Never being much of a cook, he frequented local diners and small restaurants and liked to eat fashionably late, eight o’clock or so. Grilled cheese, pie and coffee were very often his food of choice. He got acquainted with the wait staff at his favorite diner and the checkers at the grocery store he liked to frequent. He made friends with a couple of the patrons that came to the restaurant at the same time as he did and they often talked basketball or baseball, his two favorite sports.

He was always particular about shirts and ties and usually preferred a dress shirt whether casual or dressed to teach. He had definite opinions about what looked good and always loved bright colors. He also loved his cars. The Cadillac was a favorite of his for quite some time. He took to wearing hats later in his life, especially Stetson fedoras. He never went out without one. He was kind and playful, a gentleman to all he met.

A family memorial will be held in Ritzville later in the year.