Ron was born in Kamiah, Idaho, to Raymond E. Dove and Marion Lee Dove (Huff) on Sept. 4, 1940. He graduated from Kamiah High School in 1958 and went on to attend the University of Idaho, graduating in 1964. He continued his education at the University of Oregon, getting his masters degree in 1971.
Ron taught for two years in Brookings, Ore., before moving to Springfield to teach at Briggs Middle School, Junior High at that time. After teaching at Briggs for seven years, Ron went on to teach and coach at Springfield High School from 1971 until he retired in 1994.
He was the head track coach at Springfield High for 17 years. During that time he took his team to Hawaii to compete and for several years took his cross country teams to the coast to train in the sand. During his tenure, with the entire coaching staff putting in a lot of time and effort, Springfield High was fortunate enough to win the Girls Track and Field State Championships in 1979 and 1981 and the Boys State Championship in1984. Ron loved the kids he taught and coached. He had a very positive influence on the lives of his students. Ron was inducted into the Springfield High Hall of Fame in 2015. Ron was also active in the local track community, serving as a University of Oregon track official. He worked as an official at three of the Olympic Trials hosted by the University of Oregon.
After retirement there was a lot of fishing with family and friends. He was so proud of his grandchildren and tried to attend as many of their activities as he could. Also spent many a weekend working with his friend Terry Maddox doing art shows. He was a season ticket holder for Oregon women’s basketball for many years and very much enjoyed attending their games. He was also very supportive of the Oregon Women’s Soccer team whom he dearly loved. Although he could drive us crazy at times, he was a good man.
He is survived by his wife of 53 years, Nan; sons, Michael (Wendy) of Redmond; Jon of Mt. Shasta; sister, Sharon of Springfield and grandchildren, Tonya (Rylund), Tayler (Trevor), Madyson and Brydger, as well as great-grandchildren; Tescher, Taw and Renlund.
