I was saddened to learn of the recent passing of Ron Gustafson last month. We met in July 2018 in Flagstaff AZ when I was on vacation from the UK doing a road trip of the southern states with my wife and kids. He was on a trip to visit his family and staying at a nearby military base with special deal rooms available for veterans. He explained to us that as a veteran he was able to travel all over the country staying at bases and even at 84 was still racking up the miles in his car.
Ron gave us his business card and said if we were ever in Colorado to look him up and visit Pagosa Springs. We’re flying to Denver later in 2024 so were hoping to see him but when I went online to get in touch I discovered we were sadly too late.
We only met for a short time that evening in Flagstaff but Ron was really engaging to talk to and so welcoming that the time flew by.
His card had the words “Retired, having fun and enjoying life” written on it, that was all undoubtedly true as his love of life shone through, but I would also add to it his generosity. Our experience of this was that when we went to settle our tab in the bar at the end of the evening it had already been paid by Ron. Such a generous gesture to strangers and one we were very surprised to receive but it really summed up his character.
From the obituaries it is clear he was generous with both his time and money to many organizations and our experience was by no means out of the ordinary. Ron was an exceptional individual making the most of life and although we won’t now be able to reciprocate, we felt honored to have met Ron and enjoyed his company that evening.