Ron Park grew up in the grocery biz and the outdoors. His COVID-19 death was ‘brutal’
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If you were cold, or even if you only looked cold, Ron Park would give you a hand warmer.
He would often do this along the trails of Point Defiance Park, his brother, Stan, recalled by phone from his home in Portland.
It’s who he was.
Ron Park, who died July 4 from complications related to COVID-19 at the age of 72, spent much of his life outdoors, his brother explained. Growing up, the family made frequent skiing trips into the mountains, braving the old rope tows at Paradise on Mount Rainier before graduating to White Pass, Stevens Pass and Crystal Mountain.
Later in life, after his retirement from the grocery business, Ron spent much of his time at Point Defiance.
He loved to watch the boats on Salmon Bay, and was fond of giving names to the seals and birds, his brother recalled.
If you needed something, Ron wouldn’t hesitate, Park said.
“He’s the kind of guy that would give you the shirt off his back, literally — or his last hand warmer,” Park said. “He’s just that guy who would do anything for you. He was a very, very, very gentle man.”
That’s what made watching his brother’s battle with COVID-19 so difficult, Park said.
While they were able to connect by phone in Ron’s final days, the pandemic meant he was unable to visit, and by this point his brother was barely able to talk.
Park recalled feeling powerless.
When his brother needed help, there was little he could do.
He described the experience as “pure torture.”
“It was brutal. We were stuck here in Oregon, and couldn’t do a thing about it. … I talked to him three days before he died, and told him he was strong,” Park said.
“Ron’s stronger than the wind. He’s a tough guy.”
The challenges Ron faced during his life shaped him, according to his brother.
When he was a baby, Ron was diagnosed with epilepsy after battling meningitis.
In his late 20s, a car accident “broke his liver open,” Park added.
Ron wouldn’t let either thing stop him, Park said.
His brother’s qualities can also be traced back largely to his upbringing, and the family’s Lakewood-area supermarket, Phil’s Lake City Shop Rite, Park believes.
Ron began working for the family business at 17, when it opened in 1964. So did Stan, who is four years younger.
Park recalled the 10,000-square-foot store as a community gathering place, and where both learned the value of hard, honest work and looking out for your neighbors.
Through 26 years at the family store — which included the death of their father and the brothers’ brief co-ownership before it closed in 1990 — the attributes served his brother well, Park said.
“The store was almost like ‘Happy Days,’” Park recalled of where he first stocked shelves with his brother. “There was the lake, the sun, the store and the water. People felt like they were at home. They loved my father, and they loved the family.”
Park said one “essential” relationship marked his brother’s life — a lasting friendship he forged with Karen Patton.
Fittingly, according to Park, Ron met Patton at the family’s store.
Over the years, his brother helped Patton raise her daughter, and treated her grandchildren as his own, he said.
Asked about how he’ll remember his brother, Park said he’ll think back to the many trips they took together — just the two of them.
Whether it was hiking at Yosemite National Park, the Grand Canyon or the Oregon Coast, Park said the outdoors was his brother’s element, though he usually found a way to connect with people along the way.
“People would gravitate toward Ron,” Park said.
“He was one of a kind.”
— If you’ve lost a loved one to COVID-19, we’d like to tell your story. Please email us at newstips@thenewstribune.com.
This story was originally published January 22, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
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