| Date: | June 30, 2020 | Location: | Punta Uva |
On the morning of June 29, 2020, Ron Durham had a motorcycle accident at the age of 85 and died. He left the family and friends in shock and deep sadness. He will always be remembered and missed by all the people that had the joy of knowing Ron.
Chuck Turner, Commander of the American Legion Post CR10, who knew Ron Durham better than anyone, sent me this biography of this great man.
Ron was a very loving and generous person. He is a true USA patriot and has held officer positions in veterans' organizations, such as Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and the American Legion Post CR10 in Escazú, Costa Rica.
Every morning at 5:30 a.m., he went to the Punta Uva beach and picked up trash and put the trash in the trash barrels that he also supplied. This went on for more than 20 years.
His birthday parties brought in about 75 to 95 people. He supplied 30 cases of beer for his guests plus snacks. Thanksgiving dinners always included his American pals, which attracted about 30 guests. And yes, more beer was provided. I would go so far as to say that Ron Durham was the most respected and appreciated guy in the area. His heart and laughter outdid us all.
Background on Ron Durham from Chuck Turner:
Ron Durham was born in Los Angeles, CA in 1935 and grew up in nearby Paso Robles. He graduated from Burbank High School in 1953. During his high school summers, he looked for work at the local fire station. He learned carpentry as a hobby. After high school, he joined the US Army at the age of 18. He requested an overseas assignment and was sent to Germany, where he spent approximately 3 years. While in Germany, he worked laying communication cable. He bought a motorcycle and began to race motorcycles as well. Once he was discharged honorably from the Army in 1957, he joined the Los Angeles Fire Department and served 27 years before retiring.
He married a California girl and they had one boy and three girls. After many years of marriage, he divorced from his wife and pursued his career of carpentry. Next, he bought, repaired and sold old houses in California and Seattle, Washington. He joined parachute jumping clubs and actually made hundreds of wild and crazy jumps. The stories are many, funny, and interesting. He traveled to Costa Rica and visited many of the beach towns in Guanacaste, Puntarenas, Osa Peninsula, Limon and south. He fell in love with Punta Uva, bought a large home site and several years later moved to Punta Uva and build his two story wooden home before the area had water and electricity.
After several years living in Punta Uva, he met a pretty local girl who had a young and also very pretty young daughter. The mother of the daughter went on to become a university certified school teacher and still teaches school and has been school principal and school administrator at several locations in the Puerto Viejo area. His brown eyed lovely daughter grew up and attended advanced school studies in San José. Later, she met Dan at the Punta Uva beach, a sound engineer from LA, and got married. She and Dan now live in LA with their two children (Ron’s grandchildren).
May God bless him.