27 Things about Ron Griffin

Chances are, if you have land, a garden, or some functional or structural element on your property, you have crossed paths with Ron Griffin. You have surely crossed paths with someone in his family. Ron is on the go but always has time for a big smile and a wave whenever you pass. I asked him if he’d mind pondering his life and coming up with 27 things about his experiences. Here you go, a window into Ron Griffin…

1. I was born and raised in Seattle and the surrounding area.
2. We entertained ourselves a lot growing up with not much money. For a couple of years my friends and I built go-karts out of things we found in our neighborhood. We didn’t think about brakes. I got stuck under a car at the bottom of a hill and the car had to be jacked up to get me out.
3. I was state champion in trampoline/gymnastics in 1966.
4. I like to fish, especially with a granddaughter who loves to tell people that she always catches more and bigger fish than her Papa.
5. I didn’t know that I had color vision deficiency (color blindness) until I was in a high school art class and my teacher was wondering why I was painting a leaf brown.
6. I was a softball, baseball, and football referee for many years.
7. My kids think that I should’ve been the creator of country western comedy songs.
8. I designed and built a two-story treehouse in our yard.
9. I have 4 biological children and 2 adopted ones, 16 grandkids, and 3 greats.
10. I’ve been married once to my only wife for a long, long time.
11. I helped at the San Juan County Fair for about 20 years.
12. Once as a joke, I pretended to pop my eyeball out and roll it around in my mouth then put it back while we were all at the dinner table including one of my daughter’s friends. She says she’s still traumatized by that.
13. I saved a baby raccoon that was alongside the road.
14. I like to design/draw landscape plans.
15. I started a landscape and maintenance business 32 years ago.
16. I came to Orcas to work with my brother-in-law for just the summer in 1966.
17. I spent a year in Vietnam.
18. My dad was killed when I was 4. My wife’s dad, Maurice, became my second dad and was quite influential in my life.
19. I enjoy doing metal fabrication/welding in my shop.
20. My favorite car to drive is my old 1989 Isuzu that always needs work.

To read the rest, go to my column in theOrcasonian here…