Ronald Monroe

1932 - 2020

Ronald (Ron) E. Monroe
July 10, 1932 - Oct 21, 2020
Ron lived a full life and passed peacefully under the oaks of his home at the age of 88. Ron was born in Glendale, CA, and raised in Santa Rosa and Modesto. He graduated from Modesto High School, Modesto JC and the University of Oregon. He met his wife Mary Lou at Modesto High and they spent 55 years together.

Ron went to work for Holt Bros., the local Caterpillar dealer in Stockton in 1962 and never retired from the work he found energizing and fulfilling. His efforts and abilities were rewarded when he became an owner and Dealer Principal of Holt with his partner Victor Wykoff. Together they grew a successful company that included a merger with the Sacramento dealer that became Holt of California.

Ron was a student of all he tackled, always striving to master the subjects of his interest. His ability to learn made him a natural mentor with the spirit of trying to help anyone he encountered be successful. He learned to fly fish with a split bamboo fly rod as a teenager and over the years he truly found joy as he turned many people into avid fly fishermen. Ron enjoyed hunting, fishing, flying planes and keeping the family cabin in Pinecrest open to family and friends. He found a 1946 Willy's Jeep at the defunct Soap Creek Logging camp and it became the driver training vehicle for his children, their friends and his grandkids, and still purrs around the mountains today.

His memory of details of history, people, complex situations and the best place to catch fish was legendary. He used that unique gift of memory to help the rest of us get better at all we were attempting to accomplish by his never-ending questions. Questions that, while sometimes overwhelming, guided us to better decisions. Those questions also resolved many a conflict without injury to egos by bringing us around to his way of thinking – which invariably was right. He took it as a personal challenge to train all the Cat reps that entered his realm to work from the facts and make sure the customer was put first in any situation. He was proud of the guidance he gave his family, friends and co-workers and his advice helped many people, in many walks of life to flourish.

He was a Downtown Rotary member for many years and led their international student exchange. He and Mary Lou hosted many exchange students over the years with Heidy and Heli and Ute and Volker of Germany who remain part of the family today.

Ron was preceded in death by his wife Mary Lou. He is survived by his son Ken Monroe (Peggy) of Stockton, daughter Nancy Gibson (Ron) of Merced, Granddaughter Susan Lung (Andy) of Jamestown, Grandson Jordan Monroe (Jen) of Catalina, Granddaughter Kelsey Sclater (Jake) of Roseville, Granddaughter Amanda Sargent (Adrian) of San Diego and great grandchildren, Abigail, Wren, Piper, Finley, Wylder, and Hannah.

A Celebration of Life will be scheduled in the future. In the meantime, please celebrate Ron's life as an individual tribute. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Hospice of San Joaquin, 3888 Pacific Avenue, Stockton, CA 95204 www.hospicesj.org or the Pacific Legal Foundation 930 G Street, Sacramento, CA 95814 www.pacificlegal.org
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