Wednesday, February 17, 2021
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Southpoint Sun - 7
A personal story
Remembering Ron Haley
RON HALEY
ie’s family’s farm, where Ron planted a woodlot and nurtured the trees — an accomplishment he was very proud of. He had suffered a stroke in 2003, but worked very hard to get back to a normal life, and after retirement, he was able to devote his free time to many organizations. In December, this active, community-involved man, somehow contracted COVID and within days, he spiked a fever and began having breathing difficulties. It was hard to believe, because they had been so careful. On the day that Vickie called the ambulance, Ron didn’t want to go to the hospital, knowing what he’d seen on TV. He was immediately intubated and spent five weeks on a respirator, eventually waking up in Chatham, where he succumbed to kidney failure on February 11. A nine-week battle was over and Ron fought hard, displaying the determination and sheer strength of character that served him so well in life — from athletics to community service. His wife Vickie says she’ll miss her ‘better half’, but wants the community to know just how devastating COVID-19 can be. He was a wonderfully active husband, father and grandfather, who didn’t derserve the hand that COVID dealt him. For me, I’ll miss Ron’s regular visits to the office and the time he always took to chat about baseball, music and the old days. He was fond of both my brothers, who were teammates of his many years ago, and they were fond of him. There wasn’t much to not be fond about when it came to Ron Haley. His legacy will be the service he provided to this community in so many ways. But his memory will live on with those of us who were fortunate enough to experience his will to give — and his will to live.
A harmless coffee break can do more harm than you think.
Wear a mask, wash your hands and physically distance to stop the spread of COVID-19. Learn more at ontario.ca/covid-19 Paid for by the Government of Ontario
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By Mark Ribble LEAMINGTON — In mid-December, when I learned about Ron Haley’s battle with COVID-19, I immediately thought, “If anyone can beat this, Ron can.” Over the next nine weeks, I was able to receive regular updates on Ron’s condition through a friend, who painted a picture that had me feeling for the man we came to know as ‘Mr. Everything’ around the office at the Southpoint Sun. There seemed to be no organization that Ron wasn’t involved in. Every time an advertising bill had to be paid, he’d stroll into our office and happily drop a cheque on one of our desks. Ron was the treasurer for the Leamington Mersea Goodfellows, Two Creeks Conservation Association and the Leamington Lions Club. He also donated his time and effort to the Southwestern Ontario Gleaners, and was a regular driver for the Canadian Cancer Society. There wasn’t much that went on in this area that Ron didn’t have his hand in — he was that involved in the community. He was truly a ‘people person.’ I spoke with his wife, Vickie, on Family Day, trying to get a feel for all of the things Ron was involved in. To say I came away even more impressed with the man that was Ron Haley, would be an understatement. Ron grew up here and was a standout athlete as a young man. A mere search of the Leamington Post sports pages in the 1960s and 1970s, brings up numerous articles and headlines mentioning young Byron Haley. He was an outstanding baseball catcher, and my early baseball memories are filled with watching Ron crouch behind that plate, calling games for some of the best pitchers to hurl for Leamington teams. He was also an all-star catcher for the Maidstone Shamrocks. I aspired, at one time, to be a catcher, but being left-handed, I opted to be a pitcher. Ron was out of the game when I arrived with the Leamington Barons, so I never had the pleasure of having him catch my underwhelming fastball. Ron also excelled at hockey. He was a goalie for the Leamington Flyers in the mid-sixties. He was also a halfback for the Leamington Lions football team. I also found a front page story from 1969, when a 20-year-old Ron Haley was one of the main participants in a charity ‘Hike for the Helpless’ run, put on by the Leamington United Church. He ran for 18 miles of the 25-mile hike, stopping only to grab refreshments inside Point Pelee. This was probably a pre-cursor to his later community endeavours. At one time, Ron was part owner of Parkinson’s Mens’ Wear in Leamington, but decided to pull up stakes and move to Ridgetown when an opportunity came along as Clerk-Treasurer for Orford Township. After stops in Thorndale and Elmvale, Ron then joined Union Gas and moved the family to Chatham and London, then to North Bay, where he worked for Union Gas there. In 1999, Ron and Vickie moved back to Leamington and settled on Vick-
