MAZOMANIE - Ronald C. Patterson, Sr., age 82, died at home on June 22, 2025, after a long, stubborn battle with just about everything - authority, doctors, good advice. He fought hard to remain independent, and we take comfort knowing he got his wish to stay home with Buddy and Cherokee in the end.

He was born in Springfield, Mass., on November 26, 1942, to Gladys T. Colette and Cless B. “Mike” Patterson, Jr., and raised by his mother and her husband, Sgt. John A. Babcock. After high school, Ron enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps, serving proudly into the 1980s.

In his early years he moved around a bit, married Shirley Youden, had two sons and divorced. In 1989, he left the East Coast to settle in Black Earth, Wis., with his two daughters and then wife, Susan Skotnicki.

Ron coached most of his daughters’ softball and Little League teams, teaching them to hit hard, play tough, and never let a bad call slide - lessons they carried into adulthood. He brought that same dugout intensity to the bleachers when attending many WHHS sporting events in the following years.

Being a lifelong smoker paired with his thrombophilia led to the many complications that left him increasingly frail. Age 60 brought his first heart attack, followed by esophageal cancer that required an esophagectomy. He kept up his tough guy facade even as he shrank in size, forever reminding his girls of his willingness to bring death upon those that hurt them.

When he could no longer handle the physical demands of the jobs he was qualified to do, it seemed his working days were behind him. But as luck would have it - his finally good and ours now decidedly not - the Mazomanie Transfer Site needed an operator, and boy, did he know just the guy. As a clutter connoisseur, this was his dream gig. On those Saturdays he was as Ron Patterson as it gets - shooting the shit with his regulars, greeting their dogs with a biscuit, and finding treasures in other people’s trash.

Ron is survived by his children, Ronald C. Patterson, Jr., Stacy (Chase) Achenbach, and Shannon Patterson; and grandchildren, Ashely Chasse, Richard Patterson, and Ames and Ace Achenbach.

We smile at the thought of him having a cigarette (or two) with his mom and son, Richard D. Patterson, both of whom dad missed immeasurably.

The family is grateful to all the friends who looked in on Ron these last few years, and for the multiple public service, home health, NWDSS and Be My FurEvers animal rescue volunteers/staff for making life a little easier on him and his daughters with the support they’ve provided.

A memorial gathering will be held at GUNDERSON CAMACHO BLACK EARTH FUNERAL AND CREMATION CARE, 1710 Center St., Black Earth, from 4 p.m. until 6 p.m. on Friday, July 11, 2025.

Online condolences may be made at www.gundersonfh.com.

Gunderson Camacho Black Earth
Funeral & Cremation Care
1710 Center St.
(608) 767-3684

Ronald C. Patterson Sr.

November 26, 1942 - June 22, 2025

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