Ronald W. Beaver

Ronald W. Beaver was born Feb. 27, 1940, in Danville, Ill. He married Sara Francis in 1960 and they have two children, Ronald W. Beaver, Jr., and Laura F. Panu.

Son Ron Jr., lives in St. Joseph and he and his wife have three children, the most recent born Jan. 16.  Laura lives in St. Louis and has two children.

Ron attended both Middle Tennessee State University and Missouri Western College. After pursuing his academic goals, he decided to try the military.

He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1959 and served until the fall of 1962.  This venture took him to Texas, Georgia, and Karamusel, Turkey, and back to headquarters, U.S. Air Force Security Service in San Antonio.

With a wife and son, Ron had a decision to make.  He had the opportunity to re-enlist and transfer to the U.S. Army where a commission as a warrant officer awaited with the possibilities of learning to fly a helicopter. But considering the life expectancy of a helicopter pilot in Vietnam he decided to take his chances on the outside.  He moved his family to Springfield where his parents lived.

His father had spent his working career in the dairy industry and was working at Hiland Dairy in Springfield. He encouraged his son to follow in his footsteps.

At that time Hiland Dairy had bought Rhuel Ice Cream Company in Springfield and Tucker Dairy in Rolla.  Hiland needed help and Ron needed a job and he started work in 1963.  He enjoyed his time with Hiland but he wanted a career in sales.

John Baum, sales representative for Drew Chemical Company, offered Ron an opportunity to enter a junior sales program Drew was starting. He joined Drew in 1964 and spent the next several weeks riding a bus to St. Louis and working the night shift at Pevely Dairy as part of his training with Drew.

He gained valuable experience working with Pevely on installing lube systems and working with their cleanup crew.

Shortly thereafter Ron was, in his words, “thrown to the wolves” working in a Drew territory consisting of the Springfield area, Kansas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. Within a year Ron was able, with luck and hard work, to put his territory into the black.

Bill Fenner, vice president of Drew’s dairy division, asked Ron to join him in St. Joseph to help start Star Chemical Company. As an incentive to do so he was offered a pay increase of $10 a week and an opportunity to buy stock in the new company. The Beaver family moved to St. Joseph.

His duties at Star included production, formulation of stabilizer blends, territory responsibility, and quality control. He remained with Star for 26 years. In 1986 the company was sold to Grindsted, a Danish business. Ron remained with the new owner for three years continuing to live in St. Joseph.

In 1990 Ron joined Continental Colloids, Inc., of West Chicago, Ill., as national accounts manager.  He remained in that position, still living in St. Joseph, until his retirement in 2002.

During his 42-year career, Ron had the opportunity to serve on the board of directors of the American Cultured Products Institute and the Missouri Dairy Products Association, and as vice president and treasurer of the Iowa Dairy Products Association.

Ron was nominated for the Meritorious Service Award by Jeff Powell, president and general manager of Roberts Dairy. Jeff noted that “from the customer point of view Ron was always there when you needed him.  He was a friend of the industry and could always be counted on when opportunities came up in the plant. Ron was an active member of the Missouri Dairy Products Association and supported its scholarship program and made an annual donation in his father’s name.”

Ron said he always considered his customers as friends first and customers second.

“I’ll always have fond memories of all my experiences in the dairy industry,” he said.