Ron Roberts:
CLASS OF 1971
Nordonia High SchoolClass of 1971
Macedonia, OH
Webster UniversityClass of 1994
St. louis, MO
Ohio State UniversityClass of 1975
Columbus, OH
Ron's Story
LIFE
After graduating from Nordonia I attended the Ohio State University. While attending, I majored in Business, went through Air Force ROTC and met my first wife Nancy. After graduation we got married.
After college my dream of flying in the Air Force was ended due to the drawdown after the Vietnam War. I switched directions and with Nancy's support I entered the Marine Corps. Completing flight school and becoming a CH-53D helicopter pilot was bittersweet. Nancy and I were drifting apart so when I reported to my tactical squadron we went our separate ways.
In 1978, while flying out to a Marine Combined Arms Exercise in California, my appendix ruptured and I developed a serious infection. I met my future wife, Barb, while in the hospital. She was the ward nurse.
In 1981 I was involved in a helicopter crash out in the Arizona desert. It was a very intense moment and I thought we would all die. Fortune smiled and six passengers and I survived without a scratch. The aircraft wasn't so lucky. We wound up breaking a 40,000 pound helicopter in half. We did have our story told in a national military magazine though.
In April of 1982 Barb and I were married. 6 months later I left the Corps and took a job as a government helicopter instructor for the CH-53D/CH-46E Marine helicopter community while Barb remained in the Navy to continue her career.
I worked at MCAS New River, N.C. for the next 8 years while Barb saw duty at Camp Lejeune, Keflavik (Iceland), and MCAS Cherry Point. During this time we were fortunate that we were only apart for one year.
In 1990 Barb got orders for Camp Pendleton, California and I was able to find another instructor job as a CH-53E instructor at MCAS Tustin and then later at MCAS Miramar. We lived in California for ten years, eight in Laguna Niguel and two in Escondido. During this time Barb was eventually promoted to the rank of Captain and I got my masters in business and had an article concerning Marine Corps aviation published in Naval Proceedings.
In 2001 Barb received final orders to NAS Corpus Christi, Texas. Once again I was fortunate and was hired to train Navy and Marine Corps fighter pilots at NAS Kingsville. In 2004 barb retired after thirty years of military service. After 6 months she decided she wanted to go back to work and became a contract nurse at NAS Corpus Christi.
In 2007 Barb and I went...Expand for more
back MCAS New River, North Carolina to see how things had changed. While there we bumped into an old co-worker of mine. Turns out he's a renaissance man. Not only is he a top simulator maintenance technician, a top 40 musician, but also a sci-fi novelist (Carolina Bays) who has sold the rights to make a movie. The biggest surprise was that, along with other past co-workers, he made me an FBI character in his book. Ahhh....immortality on the silver screen!
As 2010 began I retired from government service January 28th. We've moved to San Antonio where Barb is working at a transplant hospital and I'm working part-time as a tax specialist.
It is now 2013 and I am enjoying retirement immensely. Barb has basically taken over her section and probably will be there for another year or two. I'm still knocking out tax returns but 2014 might be my last year.
As you can see, my entire life after high school has been centered on serving our country. I have moved 9 times (which is actually low compared to most military families), owned five homes, and have had three dogs (all golden retriever lineage). I really have no complaints concerning life after Nordonia High School, just a few bumps along the way. I hope you have found your path the same.
It is now 2024.
Since 2013, a few more things have occurred.
I stopped working as a Tax Professional in 2017. My wife retired for good in 2019. Her timing was impeccable, since COVID hit us all hard last part of 2019.
Since 2021, work has been replaced by traveling. We have hit Europe 3 times (2 via cruises/land tours), Japan (broke my leg coming home), Latin America and South America. Upcoming trip is a European river cruise. Squeezed in between have been trips to watch the Indians (Guardians if you are so inclined to call them that) play outside and in Ohio. The current plan is to hit all the American League stadiums outside of Ohio when they are there (not sure if I’ll be able to pull that one off). On top of all that, I still have found time to meet up with high school friends in Las Vegas once a year.
Other than that, I still do some tax returns on the side, take care of the house and watch all the Indians games on streaming (of course they’ll be in the World Series this year or next).
Anyway. I hope everybody is doing well. Please keep me in the loop if we ever have a class reunion set up.
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