Ronald Keith Richardson

Richardson, Ronald (“Ron”) K. August 11, 1936 – January 12, 2024 Ron was born on August 11, 1936 near Nelson, Nebraska during the great depression and dust bowl. He was born in his home, and they put him in a shoe box and sat him in the open window to keep him cooler. One of his first jobs was a paper route. He learned a valuable lesson about money when the first pinball machines showed up at the town drug store. It cost five cents for each play. Ron took money from the paper collections and started playing. At the end of the month when they came to collect the money, there wasn’t enough to cover the amount owed to the publisher. For the following two months, Ron had to work for free to pay back the money. When Ron was around 11 or 12 years old, he and a friend had a cart they used to pick up people’s garbage and haul it to the dump. On the way back, they would fill the cart with corn cobs to burn in their stoves. He would always say he was one of the first to back haul products. He also lived near a railroad track when he was young, and they would pick up coal along the track to burn in their stoves. After a time, the engineer became so familiar that he would throw candy bars out of the train for them. Ron worked hard his whole life to provide for his family. He started in the dairy business in his teens working at Abbotts Dairy in Hastings, Nebraska washing bottles. He worked in every area of the business in the early years, from door to door delivery to plant manager. All of those experiences gave him a complete understanding of the business and ultimately allowed him the privilege of becoming President of Roberts Dairy Company with processing plants in Omaha, Des Moines, Iowa City and Kansas City and an ice cream plant in Norfolk, Nebraska. Ron loved his wife of 68 years, Virginia, and his family well. He was kind, always had a great story to tell, dedicated, loyal, caring, consistent, and willing to help others. Even has he struggled during his last two months in the hospital, he was kind to and developed relationships with those who cared for him. The nurses consistently commented that he was such a special and kind man. As he neared the end of his time with us and grew weary from the battle, he said he was ready to go to Heaven. We look forward to seeing him again in his full glory one day! In lieu of flowers, memorials can be made to Citylight Mosaic Church or to the donor’s charity of choice in Ron’s name.

Ronald Keith Richardson

August 11, 1936 - January 12, 2024