Ronald Dean Poole

Ronald Dean Poole, age 88, died Wednesday, December 3, at his home in Mankato, with his family at his side. A memorial service will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, December 9, with a visitation one hour prior at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Mankato. Burial will be at a later date at Riverside Cemetery in Winnebago.

Ron was born Sept 11, 1937 in Winnebago, MN to Roger D. & Marjorie (Ritter) Poole, he was raised and attended school in Winnebago where he excelled in athletics and choir, earning 15 varsity letters in grades 9-12 and participating in State competition in Track & Field and in the Upper Midwest Golden Gloves where he competed in the 1956 championship bout in the featherweight division. He was the leading scorer on the 1955-56 Winnebago H.S. football team which compiled one of the best win/loss records in that school's history. Declining an offer to box professionally he opted instead to go off to college, earning three college and university degrees. At the University of Minnesota he was a member of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity. He married the love of his life, Henrietta Marzinske whom he met while a student at Mankato State College. From 1961 to 1963 he worked in the Wisconsin Public Schools as a Speech Correctionist in the Shawano County school system. In 1965 he completed a graduate degree at Kansas University with a major emphasis in Clinical Audiology at the K. U. Medical Center in Kansas City. He completed doctoral coursework in Audiology and Hearing Science at Denver University in 197-75. He was a member of the faculty of MSU, Mankato from 1965 until his retirement in 2001. At MSU Mankato he taught classes in Audiology, Speech Pathology, and Hearing Science. He served as a friend, advisor, mentor, and professor to hundreds of students during his 41 year relationship with MSU. He also directed the activities of the Audiology Clinic in the Department of Communication Disorders during the years that MSU underwent name changes from Mankato State College to Mankato State

University to its present name, Minnesota State University, Mankato. While there, he worked part-time as a clinical audiologist at the Mankato Clinic during 1966 through 1971. He tested the hearing of hundreds of industrial workers, children, seniors and adults in the south central Minnesota area, and supervised the testing of hundreds more. While employed he was a member of the American Speech/Language & Hearing Association, the Minnesota and the Wisconsin Speech/Language & Hearing Associations, the Academy of Audiology, the Acoustical Society of America, and numerous educational associations. Ron always enjoyed being with family and friends. At various stages in his life his activities included dining out with his wife, traveling, playing handball, downhill skiing, Scuba diving, snorkeling, flying, reading , hunting, fishing, dry-fly casting, sailing in his sloop-rigged sailboat - the Whisper, falconry and hunting with his Red Tail Hawks. Maverick Hockey became his favorite, and he never missed a game, in the living room by the fire. He had enjoyed watching his son, Jeff, play hockey on the PeeWee team which he coached, and which became the first Mankato Area Hockey Association PeeWee team to earn a berth in the B-division State tournament. He had also enjoyed watching his daughter, Bridget, compete in the Minnesota State High School Springboard Diving Tournament, and his younger daughter, Becky perform as an actress, standup comic, and sketch comedian on Broadway in New York, NY. He was preceded in death by his Father, Mother, brother Jerry Poole and sister-in-law Jane Poole. He is survived by his wife Etta, son Jeff and wife Deb of Mankato, daughter Bridget of Mankato, and daughter Becky of Los Angeles. Grandchildren: Ashley Sobota (Husband Dylan), Josh Poole, Devin Padilla, Sam Padilla, and Owen Padilla. Great Grandchildren: Amelia, Luxe, and Roy.

The live stream link below is a complimentary service provided by Mankato Area Funeral Homes. Unforeseen technical, internet, facility, and/or acoustical circumstances may produce a diminished end product. Please note, if the live stream does not appear, we are attempting to record and publish the service for later viewing.