Ronald Gehring

MADISON/LODI-Ronald Lincoln Ghering died peacefully on July 29th, 2019 at his home on Lake Wisconsin in Lodi. He was born on February 12th, 1941 to Melvin and Barbara (Hornung) Ghering in Madison. Ron graduated from Madison East High School in 1959. Ron had an extraordinary sense of humor that pervaded everything he did. He told knock-knock jokes, lightbulb jokes, Ole and Lena jokes. He told dumb jokes, hilarious jokes, one-liners. He repeated his signature jokes throughout his life, creating his own Ghering joke-tropes. He laughed at everyone else’s jokes, too, even if they weren’t funny. (He appreciated the effort.) He joked with his doctors and nurses during treatment for MDS, a rare blood disorder that slowed him down only slightly in his final year. He was even heard telling a joke one of the last times he spoke. Self-described as the ‘commode’ of the Mendota Yacht Club (he was really the Commodore), Ron was beyond active. He was an avid sailor, ice boater, motor boater, and downhill skier. He was a well known fixture in the Wisconsin Hoofers and the Madison Drum and Bugle Corps. He also excelled at hockey, euchre, bird-watching, the art of conversation, and traveling the world over. Ron worked maintaining large commercial refrigeration systems for Trane before starting his own business, Ghering Refrigeration. His light-hearted laugh followed him everywhere, and was likely a factor in winning the trust of clients such as Oscar Mayer Co., East High School, countless other schools, prisons, hospitals - even a paper mill in Argentina - before going back to Trane part-time as he neared retirement. Ron was also a member of the Steamfitters Local Union No. 601. He was a prankster (ask his friends about the outhouse, or the toilet bolted to a friend’s boat in place of a captain’s chair). He was the life of the party. He was everybody’s favorite. Famously, he channeled his engineering skills into other endeavors, including mastery in the art of potato gun construction (‘Spudzooka’). One year, he repurposed his ski poles into drinking flasks by removing the handles, threading the openings, and replacing the tops with dish soap pop-up caps. He made his own wine, and was a connoisseur but never a snob. His oft-used line at wine tasting parties was “it’s a good wine, but not a great wine.” Ron was preceded in death by his daughters Amy and Anne, his sisters Darlene (Fred) Horstmeier and Alice (Darrell) Dillman. He is survived by his wife Harriet and step-daughter Wendi Weger, nieces and nephews Patricia, Joseph, Douglas, Dianne and Dennis, and many grand nieces and nephews. Ron’s family would like to thank the staff of Agrace Hospice and Harriet Ghering for providing compassionate and loving in-home care to Ron in his final weeks. A memorial service will be held on Tuesday, August 6th at 12pm at GUNDERSON LODI FUNERAL AND CREMATION CARE, 157 South Main St. Lodi, and a celebration of life will follow at 1pm at Fitz’s On the Lake: W11602 Hwy V, Lodi. **Due to construction on Highway 60, if you are traveling on I-90, please take the Highway V exit at DeForest and travel West on Highway V through Dane, this will take you directly into Lodi. Memorials may be made in Ron’s name to the Myelodysplastic Syndrome Foundation https://www.mds-foundation.org/donate/ To know Ron, is to Love Ron and love him we do! Gunderson Lodi Funeral & Cremation Care 157 S. Main St. (608) 592-3201