On the morning of June 29, Ron had a motorcycle accident at the age of 85 and died. He left the family and friends in shock and deep sadness. He will always be remembered and missed by all the people that had the joy of knowing Ron.
Chuck Turner, Commander of the American Legion Post 10, who knew Ron Durham better than anyone sent me this biography of this great man.
Ron was a very loving and generous person. He is a True USA Patriot and has held officer positions in the military organizations such as Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion Post 10 Escazu. Every morning at 5:30 am he goes to the Punta Uva beach and picks up trash and put the trash in the trash barrels that he also supplied. This has been going on for more than 20 years. His birthday parties brought in about 75 to 95 people. He supplies 30 cases of beer for his guest plus snacks. Thanks giving dinners include his American pals which attracts about 30 guests. Yes- more beer is provided. I would go so far as to say—Ron Durham as the most respected and appreciated guy in the area. His heart and laughter out did us all.
Background on Ron Durham from Chuck Turner:
Ron Durham was born in Los Angeles, CA in 1935 and grew up in Paso Robles, L A, California. He graduated from Burbank High School in 1953. . During his high school summers he looked for work at the local fire station. He had a hobby in learning carpentry. After H S he joined the U S Army at the age of 18. He requested an overseas assignment. He was sent to Germany where he spent approx. 3 years. While in Germany he worked laying communication cable. He bought a motorcycle and began to race motorcycles as well. Once he was discharged-honorably-from the Army in 1957 he joined the L A fire department where he spent 27 years before retirement. He married a California girl and they had one boy and three girls. After many years of marriage he divorced from his wife and pursued his career of carpentry. Next he bought, repaired and sold old houses in California and Seattle, Washington. He joined parachute jumping clubs and actually made hundreds of wild and crazy jumps. The stories are many, funny and interesting. He traveled to Costa Rica and visited many of the beach towns in Guanacaste, Puntarenas, Osa Peninsula, Limon and south. He fell in love with Punta Uva, bought a large home site and several years later moved to Punta Uva and build his two story wooden home before the area had water and electricity. After several years living in Punta Uva he met a pretty local girl who had a young and also very pretty young daughter. The mother of the daughter went on to become a university certified school teacher and still teaches school and has been school principal and school administer at several locations in the Puerto Viejo area. His brown eyed lovely daughter grew up and attended advanced school studies in San Jose. She later, at the Punta Uva beach, met Dan, a sound engineer from L A. and got married and now lives in L A with their two children (Ron’s grandchildren).
May God bless him.