Rick & Alice Sweet (Friend)
Entered
December 1, 2023
from Airdrie, Alberta
I thought for a long time how I could pay tribute to this guy.
The grief I feel on Ron’s passing will fade soon enough because I was well aware of the pain he was living with, the helplessness he felt as he was fighting this battle, the frustration he endured when he couldn’t play golf this past summer.
I think I would rather focus on my memories of Ron over the years.
As kids growing up in the country, we spent so many days riding our bikes or playing catch and so many nights just walking, thinking out loud , figuring out life.
Playing road hockey in the summer, pond hockey in the winter, Ron was always the goalie, average at best but he made every save and every “near save” look incredibly acrobatic. Form-wise, at least, Ron was NHL material.
Piano lessons week after week. Hours of practice, at his Mom’s insistence, turned Ron into a phenomenal keyboard magician that later moulded his life. Heavy metal, country, pop, commercial, he could do it all.
Often I recall Ron, as a teenage organist, playing “House of the Rising Sun” so piously as a recessional at Maidstone United Church and giving me a smirk and a wink as the older generation admired his taste in music.
Dec 31, 1980, Ron hosted a New Year’s Eve bash that set a new benchmark for great parties. For over 40 years, Alice and I have kept a party favour from that night on our Christmas tree.
Years later, when we were living in Winnipeg, Ron and another band member stopped over while he was touring with Ronnie Prophet. Stayed the night, met our young family, Alice made a great home-cooked meal.
After that visit, every time we talked on the phone, or when I visited him in the Beaches, Ron would without fail ask about Alice and my daughters, genuinely concerned for our happiness and our aspirations.
Alice would insist that I put the phone on “speaker” when we chatted, so she could hear his voice and his sly little laugh.
Of course there was golf, and others will talk about his passion for the links. Ron and I probably only played a half a dozen rounds together over the years but we laughed nonstop every occasion.
We often talked about Ron coming to Alberta when this thing went back into remission, hoping to golf some of the mountain courses near here. Some day ….
Mostly, know that Ron was the ultimate gentleman. He loved everyone and loved life. No wonder his clients became such good friends. They were his family.
That was the guy Alice and I will remember. It is definitely our loss and we would give anything to have another hour with him.
RIP, Ron. You fought bravely to the end. All our love to Bev, Bill and your extended family.
Rick & Alice Sweet
Airdrie, Alberta
