Ronald Lee Wise

Ron Wise was born April 06, 1947 in Marion, Ohio to the late George and Phyllis Wise.  God gave Ron and his first wife 2 sons.

Ron had worked at several places through the years, one that he loved and was most proud of was LaRue Millworks.  The job that changed his life was when he worked at Whirlpool. In late 2001 he worked across the dryer line from Tessa Willey and they started chatting. She gave the phone number to him of her friend, Pam and the rest is a 19 year history of love, friendship and family. He danced his way and brought along a cheese ball into the lives of Pam, her children John, Felicia and John Paul (grandson), Katie, Evan and Noah (grandsons), Bella (granddaughter), Donald, Nikki and Lola (granddaughter).  Nikki Ketteman was given her nieces to care for a period of time this past year; Ron was blessed with the addition of Kendra and Haley to call him grandpa.

Ron was blessed to make several trips with his family. All the children and grandchildren have been on trips with Ron to Niagara Falls except for his “Bella”.  He loved the vacations with his wife, brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Donald and Michelle McConnell.  The Labor Day weekend trips to state parks with the entire McConnell/Ketteman/Grigsby/Wise Family are memories to be cherished forever.  When he was able to attend, he enjoyed school programs, church programs, Lola playing t-ball, Noah playing baseball and Evan in Harding’s marching band! He was able to be present at John Paul’s high school graduation. This year he was able to see the pictures from Tennessee of John Paul’s proposal to Rachel.  He was his wife’s biggest supporter while she was trying to become a walker/ runner, traveling with her and shouting support from the sidelines, usually to run faster.

Ron was diagnosed several years ago with smoldering multiple myeloma which became active in 2020 and he started chemo treatments. He was blessed to have daughter Katie and his beloved Aunt Barb help take him to doctor appointments and chemo treatments. Ron and his Aunt Barb always stopped to have lunch after his treatment to be able to laugh and joke together.  Ron was blessed with caring doctors and had strong support system with his family and friends.  His sons John and Donald Ketteman with their wives, Felicia and Nikki were always there to lend a helping hand and help with fixing things that he needed help with.

Ron’s friend, John Weese, who called Ron dad, was always there to support Ron and help him when he started becoming too weak to do what he wanted to do. But that didn’t stop him from still trying to accomplish what he felt he needed to do. They spent the summer of 2020 teaching Ron’s grandsons Evan and Noah how to mow Aunt Barb’s yard with a rider and push mower. John was determined to keep Ron off of the rider to save the stress on his back where the lesions were starting to appear.

Ron and his brother Lonnie would call and follow each other’s progress and treatment with their joint battle against cancer. Lonnie lost his battle in September 2020. Ron lost his battle January 07, 2021. The brothers were warriors.

Bishop Corredon Rogers was also a major influence in Ron’s life. Ron would say the pastor explains things in a way I can understand.  Ron would make the extra effort to be in church every Sunday that he was able, sometimes struggling to make it up the steps. Ron loved God, his Pastor and his church.

There was a private viewing held for Ron on Monday, January 11, 2021 at the Edwards Funeral Service, followed by cremation.

Celebrations of life will be planned when things are safer to gather. One celebration for sure will be held in “his” garage (where he loved to do woodworking) with a big cast iron pot of chili on the wood burning stove that he loved to fix for family and friends.