1956

santaclaramagazine@gmail.com

Ronald Anthony Siemer ’56 Resident of San Jose. Ron Siemer left us peacefully in his sleep on July 20, 2010 after a long illness. He was surrounded by his loving family daily. Ron is survived by his wife Betty, son Ronnie Jr., daughters Cheryl, Jennifer and Laura, grandchildren Jillian, Camilla and Thomas, and his cousins, nieces, nephews and friends who loved him dearly. Ron was born in 1934 in Wichita, Kan., and moved to California in his uncle’s model-T Ford as a young child. Spending most of his childhood in Vallejo, Calif., he attended St. Vincent’s School and upon graduation, went to Santa Clara University to study electrical engineering. While attending SCU, he met Betty at a party and proclaimed that night that he had "met the girl he was going to marry." Midway through college, he joined the Army and served two years in Germany, writing to Betty every day. Upon his return from Germany, they married in 1959 and moved to San Luis Obispo where he completed his electrical engineering degree at Cal Poly while Betty taught sixth grade. In 1960, they moved to New York, where he began his 35 year career with General Electric as a nuclear engineer. In 1962 they returned to California, living in Santa Barbara for a short while before finally settling in San Jose where they raised their four children. Ron’s family was the most important thing to him. He taught his children by example the meaning of the words ‘honesty’, ‘compassion’ and ‘integrity’. He worked tirelessly to provide for his family, putting all his children through college. He shared with them his love of science, math, sailing, dogs, and nature and his family has many wonderful memories of the places he loved like San Diego, Yosemite, the National Parks and sailing in the San Francisco Bay. With the nest empty, he traveled to Europe, the Caribbean and Hawaii multiple times with Betty and loved to discover new sights and new tastes, learning every day. He was an avid reader, gardener, chef, computer geek and had a sly sense of humor. Ron persevered through life with his family by his side, and he will be missed so much.

08 Nov 2018