Ronald Black

Ronald L. Black

THORNVILLE: A memorial service celebrating the life of Ronald L. Black, age 67, of Thornville, will be held at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 3, at the Thornville home of Hoskinson Funeral & Cremation Service, 56 South Main Street in Thornville, where the family will receive friends from 11:00 a.m. until the time of the service. Inurnment will follow in New Lexington Cemetery.

Ronald was born October 2, 1947 in Columbus, Ohio to the late Harold A. and Pauline Black. He went to heaven at 2:15 a.m. on Thursday, September 24, 2015 at Riverside Hospital after a short, major illness.

At a very young age, Ron began his life in New Lexington with his paternal grandparents. He graduated from New Lexington High School in 1966 and went on to Ohio University in Zanesville. Due to the illnesses of his grandparents, he was unable to complete his education degree.

Ron began working at the age of 16 at the New Lexington A&P store, then at the U.S. Postal Offices in New Lexington and Somerset. His most enjoyable occupation began on June 10, 1973 as the owner-operator and chief designer of Black's Flower and Gift Shoppes in Somerset. Over the next several years, Ron and his wife, Alpha, increased the number of locations to four including Thornville, New Lexington, and Junction City, as well as having a year-round Christmas Shoppe in Somerset. He was also very proud of being an active member of the Teleflora Southern Ohio Professional Florist Association, where he served on the board and attended worldwide conventions in Toronto, Canada in 1978 and Hollywood, FL in 1979. During his years as a florist, he and several other southern Ohio florists worked together to get flowers directly from South America in order to offer their customers the best value and fresher flowers for their orders.

On March 23, 1994, Ron and Alpha purchased Thornville's Village Lanes Bowling Center and Suzy Q's Dairy Freeze from the parents of their son Todd's wife, Mike and Sue Beardmore. While they owned the bowling center, Ron was a member of the Southeastern Ohio Bowling Proprietors Association. Ron, Alpha and Todd were on-hand operators of the lanes and dairy freeze until December 5, 2003, when health problems for both Ron and Alpha led to the sale of the lanes and the dairy freeze. They also had scaled down the florist Shoppes to just the one in Thornville, and, going into semi-retirement, they continued to serve their loyal and new customers until now.

The Somerset Lions Club was also important to Ron. He served as Club Secretary and Treasurer during his 40 year membership. He was very dedicated to the New Lexington Presbyterian Church. He began attending with his grandmother and at 2 years old he started going to Sunday School. That is where he met Alpha. He was very active and served as an officer in the youth association for several years. He and Alpha officially became members of the church on Easter Sunday of 1963, along with many of their friends.

Ron's most cherished accomplishment was the yearly decorating of the whole church sanctuary. During the annual pre-Christmas Sunday evening of worship, he served as the master of ceremony and Santa. This event was open to performers and visitors from Perry County and surrounding communities. The church had an awesome seasonal atmosphere which took him weeks to prepare with a little help from Alpha and Todd. He served as a governing member of the session, church clerk, church treasurer, and the organist for many years. He continued as organist until this last illness.

Ron is survived by his wife, Alpha (Howerth), whom he married on Valentine's Day 1971; a son, Todd M. (Michele) Black; brothers, James (Colleen) Black of Ferndale, MI and Anthony Black of Imlay City, MI; sister, Leslie (Dave) Bevens of Key West, FL; step-mother, Joan Wagor of Lapeer, MI; many nieces, nephews and cousins; and his loyal feline companions.

He was preceded in death by his father, Harold A. Black in 1977; his grandparents, George M. Black in 1970 and Mary Jane Black in 1982; his in-laws Alva M. Howerth in 1980 and Ardath M. Howerth in 1981; a brother, Jeffrey Black in 2009; and many great aunts, uncles and cousins.

Hoskinson Funeral & Cremation Service is honored to care for Ron and his family.

Please visit www.HoskinsonFuneral.com to share a special memory about Ron or to sign an online guest book.