Ronald (Ron) Minges DeLonge

January 28, 1951 - March 10, 2024

Ron DeLonge (73) died of natural causes at his home in Cambridgeport, Vermont on Sunday March 10th. He grew up in Cranford, New Jersey; born to parents, Ken and Rachel, Ron was the third of four children. A naturally gifted athlete Ron attended Michigan State University on a sports scholarship where he played varsity baseball and club rugby. After changing his major at least three times, he graduated in 1974. Ron’s father was Senior Vice President of INCO, a large international nickel mining company, and Ron spent an early post-college year living and working for INCO in Manitoba. Ron’s love of ice hockey and the time he spent “500 miles north of Winnipeg” developed into a life-long fondness for Canada.

Ron was a member of the Saxtons River community since he moved to Vermont in the late 70s. He worked at Vermont Academy where he lived on campus, taught math, and coached baseball, football, and hockey. He was instrumental in building the VA hockey rink, which, largely thanks to Ron, now has walls. He was a talented coach, and while he eventually left teaching for carpentry, he continued to coach youth hockey for decades. Young hockey players of the Pleasant Valley loved him for his patience, laid-back demeanor, and his casual disregard for rules. As rink manager, he loved to share ice time rather than charge for it, and took every opportunity to let members of the community use the ice when it would otherwise be sitting empty. Ron only believed in rules that made playing sports fun and fair, and chose not to enforce the sometimes-arbitrary youth hockey regulations. One year, his team of 13-year-old Bantams didn’t have a goalie, so he recruited his petite 16-year old daughter who happened to play that position. She was no bigger or more skilled than her team-mates, but would have been disqualified from the team solely due to age. Ron trusted his young players to understand the nuance; teaching them in his own quiet way to see the meaning and essence of rules, but not to let them inhibit a good-hearted game. Ron’s rule-bending was never for the pursuit of winning, and his own athletic achievements were no different; never about ego, but truly about sportsmanship and for the love of the game.

Ron met his first wife Melanie Anderson in southern Vermont, both having moved to the area from neighboring towns in New Jersey. Mel had unknowingly cheered against her future husband during high school football games. They had two children together: Emily and Austin. Ron eventually re-married to Judith Ferraro who already had two children of her own, Sean and Gemma, and together they raised their blended family and had another son, Gaetano. Ron’s approach to life was reflected in his family: welcoming, nonjudgmental, and not adherent to anyone else’s rules. His nuclear family’s atypical structure was a source of pride. A carpenter by trade, Ron had an innate comfort with building and problem solving- although, like many carpenters, his own homestead was brimming with partially-completed projects. He worked hard, but he also knew the value of play, and instilled in his children the importance of learning from every experience not just formal education. He ignored most markers of external success, and demonstrated to those around him the value of pursuing goodness over greatness.

Ron suffered from a dichotomy of philosophy, believing both in the power of manual labor and the importance of leisure. He loved the ocean, fishing, and eating seafood. His sunny disposition allowed him to befriend everyone, including lobstermen neighbors on family trips to Maine with whom he would strike deals for wholesale pricing, or barter maple syrup. He would get lobsters by the dozens and eat them at least once a day for the duration of the trip. However, with some regularity, Ron also chose to do things “the hard way.” He was known to shovel his own driveway and chop his wood by hand. He sought a simple life, and most of the time he achieved it. Yet his long-time interest in raising goats seemed to result in more time building fences and retrieving animals from the neighbor’s flower beds than the initial purpose of reducing his reliance on his lawn mower. While he often scorned modern conveniences he remained open-minded to technology, and his own curiosity would battle his Luddite tendencies. Ultimately he succumbed to the lure of a riding lawnmower, although he kept a token goat for the enjoyment of his grandchildren.

Comedic nuance was not one of Ron’s strong suits. He had an appreciation for it in other people, but had no real talent for it himself, guffawing instead at humor that can only be described as “dad-joke” material. He took to writing down his favorites and his desk was covered in scraps of paper carefully penciled in capital letters with jokes, philosophy, names of people he met, movies worth watching, trees he was thinking of buying, and places, such as Muskoka, Canada, he thought might be a spot for a “GOOD SUMMER VACA.” Off the sports field, Ron was not a man who ever hurried. He was patient and thoughtful. He was the type of man who liked to play Bridge, or who might answer the phone on the 15th ring. Over the 73 years he walked on earth his joints started to ache and his posture began to stoop, and in his later years his movements became almost glacial. Yet he remained dedicated to a large group of friends with whom he spent many joyous hours playing pond-hockey. Despite the pain of ambulation he continued to ice skate, and his arthritis would vanish as he began to glide.

Ron is predeceased by his parents Ken (2011) and Rachel DeLonge (2012); brother Gary (1988); and ex-wife Melanie Anderson DeLonge (2014). He leaves behind his children Sean (Yoon Jung Hwang) Pentland, Emily (Toby) Haggerty, Austin (Samantha) DeLonge, Gemma (Connor Killigrew) Pentland, and Gaetano DeLonge; grandchildren Adelaide and J. Archer Haggerty, Annabelle Macleod-DeLonge, and Cal DeLonge; siblings Diane (James “Jay”) French, and David (Meng) DeLonge; ex-wife Judith Ferraro; numerous cousins, nieces, and nephews; and countless dear friends.

Ron is dearly missed by his family and friends. They welcome all who knew him to join them in a Celebration of Life on Saturday June 8th, at 1pm at the Saxtons River Rec Area. A potluck will follow at 4pm. Please bring a dish to share; a hot grill will be available from 4-6pm.

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