Ron Schenk
1935 - 2007
Ron
Schenk was the founder of this website and the co-moderator of
the Welknotes group on Yahoo.com. Ron was deeply loved and
respected by so many people across the country even though most never
had the opportunity to meet him in person.
Besides spending countless hours preparing the pictures and pages presented on this website, he was very generous in helping group members with their technical issues even when it wasn't related to this site or the Yahoo group.
Ron was born and raised in Aurora, IL and lived there for 27 years. After marrying a long-time friend, they had five children, although three preceded him in death. Ron had a very interesting career, working as a programmer and systems analyst, then as a NASA subcontractor in the early 1960's when they were doing the Saturn Apollo moon shots which proved to be an exciting time in his career. He later relocated to Huntsville, AL to setup an operations center and data processing operations to support an IBM component of the Apollo Saturn rockets and ultimately became the computer operations manager for IBM in Huntsville. Desiring a change from the technical field, he transferred within IBM to San Jose, CA as a financial analyst and then into account management. During his tenure with IBM, he ran almost every accounting department they had before taking early retirement after 18 years with the company. He used his certifications to teach university courses in accounting, business systems analysis, telecommunications and contract negotiations. Beside his technical and business talents, he also won several awards for articles that were published in technical journals.
In his free time, he enjoyed music lessons and was also active in teaching seniors how to use personal computers, tutoring elementary school students via email, and helping with his church's technical needs. His generosity of time and spirit is what many of the people here will best remember about Ron, and we will forever be grateful that our paths crossed with this wonderful soul.
Below is a sampling of comments left by those whose lives he touched, perhaps best summed up by one member's statement: "Isn't it just amazing how someone that we never met personally made such a huge impact on so many lives?"
Besides spending countless hours preparing the pictures and pages presented on this website, he was very generous in helping group members with their technical issues even when it wasn't related to this site or the Yahoo group.
Ron was born and raised in Aurora, IL and lived there for 27 years. After marrying a long-time friend, they had five children, although three preceded him in death. Ron had a very interesting career, working as a programmer and systems analyst, then as a NASA subcontractor in the early 1960's when they were doing the Saturn Apollo moon shots which proved to be an exciting time in his career. He later relocated to Huntsville, AL to setup an operations center and data processing operations to support an IBM component of the Apollo Saturn rockets and ultimately became the computer operations manager for IBM in Huntsville. Desiring a change from the technical field, he transferred within IBM to San Jose, CA as a financial analyst and then into account management. During his tenure with IBM, he ran almost every accounting department they had before taking early retirement after 18 years with the company. He used his certifications to teach university courses in accounting, business systems analysis, telecommunications and contract negotiations. Beside his technical and business talents, he also won several awards for articles that were published in technical journals.
In his free time, he enjoyed music lessons and was also active in teaching seniors how to use personal computers, tutoring elementary school students via email, and helping with his church's technical needs. His generosity of time and spirit is what many of the people here will best remember about Ron, and we will forever be grateful that our paths crossed with this wonderful soul.
Below is a sampling of comments left by those whose lives he touched, perhaps best summed up by one member's statement: "Isn't it just amazing how someone that we never met personally made such a huge impact on so many lives?"
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Some
people make disparaging remarks about the internet and how it is
impossible to meet friends in cyberspace without meeting in
person. I think anyone who has been on Welknotes for any length
of time and had any occasion to write to Ron about anything, quickly
found out what an exceptional person he was.
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It is remarkable how much Ron touched all of our lives with his computer knowledge and his dedicated work on the Welk Notes website. We have lost a real special person here among us.
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He was certainly one of the most talented people I've had the privilege to know. There is a large vacant place today in the lives of so many people who have been connected to him through WelkNotes.
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We have lost a precious and wonderful friend, in Ron. He seemed to be "everybody's" Ron. He touched all of our lives in so many ways. His kindness and gentleness was a quality so few people have and he certainly set himself as an example of the way a true friend should be. His sincerity was obvious in the way that he helped all of us. Once in a life time we have friends like Ron who gave so much of himself and asked nothing of us. He gave us so much pleasure with his many talents. There is certainly a brighter star in the Heavens these days and our loss is truly Heaven's gain.
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We will always remember Ron for his strong Christian faith, his willingness to help us with our personal computer troubles and his joyful labor of love in displaying so many "wunnerful" "wunnerful" photos. We will always cherish Ron's handiwork.
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Ron was a friend to everyone, and showed that by all the kind things he did for us here. He was brilliant when it came to the computer, and loved sharing that knowledge willingly with us when needed. He was so kind and did such a beautiful job. He will be greatly missed.
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Ron's death has touched the lives of our members equally as much as a death of a Lawrence Welk performer. Maybe it's because he gave so much and expected nothing in return.
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We have lost a wonderful guy that has been such a blessing to us.
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He was always ready with a helping hand whenever needed. He was a source of strength, information and support for the group. He had a brilliant mind and a loving spirit which we will dearly miss.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It is remarkable how much Ron touched all of our lives with his computer knowledge and his dedicated work on the Welk Notes website. We have lost a real special person here among us.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He was certainly one of the most talented people I've had the privilege to know. There is a large vacant place today in the lives of so many people who have been connected to him through WelkNotes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We have lost a precious and wonderful friend, in Ron. He seemed to be "everybody's" Ron. He touched all of our lives in so many ways. His kindness and gentleness was a quality so few people have and he certainly set himself as an example of the way a true friend should be. His sincerity was obvious in the way that he helped all of us. Once in a life time we have friends like Ron who gave so much of himself and asked nothing of us. He gave us so much pleasure with his many talents. There is certainly a brighter star in the Heavens these days and our loss is truly Heaven's gain.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We will always remember Ron for his strong Christian faith, his willingness to help us with our personal computer troubles and his joyful labor of love in displaying so many "wunnerful" "wunnerful" photos. We will always cherish Ron's handiwork.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ron was a friend to everyone, and showed that by all the kind things he did for us here. He was brilliant when it came to the computer, and loved sharing that knowledge willingly with us when needed. He was so kind and did such a beautiful job. He will be greatly missed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ron's death has touched the lives of our members equally as much as a death of a Lawrence Welk performer. Maybe it's because he gave so much and expected nothing in return.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We have lost a wonderful guy that has been such a blessing to us.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He was always ready with a helping hand whenever needed. He was a source of strength, information and support for the group. He had a brilliant mind and a loving spirit which we will dearly miss.