Ronald Alan Gonzales

Ronald Alan Gonzales, 66, died peacefully at home, surrounded by his family, on March 12, 2021, after a valiant battle with myelodysplastic syndrome and Parkinson's Disease.

Ron was born in Barstow, CA, to Rudy and Rosemary Gonzales, and was the oldest of seven children. He grew up in Corpus Christi, TX, where he loved participating in competitive swimming for many of his younger years. He was a natural athlete, always enjoying competition in any sport he tried. Ron decided to follow in his dad's footsteps with a career in the fire service. He chose to attend Oklahoma State University where he received an associate's degree in Fire Prevention and a bachelor's degree in Technical Education. He loved living in the fire house on the edge of campus during his college years and working for the Stillwater Fire Department. While attending OSU, he met and fell in love with Sara Gresham. They were married soon after graduating from college and shared a wonderful life together, raising 3 children while living in Corpus Christi, TX, Farmers Branch, TX and Fort Collins, CO.

Ron had a fulfilling 28-year career with Poudre Fire Authority beginning as a Hazardous Materials Specialist and became Assistant Fire Marshal. He was a plans examiner, conducted development reviews and was an original member of the PFA Fire Behavior Committee. Ron had a true servant's heart with his philosophy of always helping his customers find a way to meet fire code requirements, sometimes with highly creative ways to do just that. For many years, he helped draft national fire code language and taught classes on using the fire code. He was an arson investigator for PFA and found solving the riddle of how fires started rewarding. He was deeply respected by the PFA organization, and members of the development and construction community.

Most important in Ron's life was his faith and his family. His servant heart came directly from his love of Jesus. He served Faith Church as an elder, Stephen Minister, Awana leader and Sunday School leader. His children and their activities were central to his life and he never missed a game or performance. Ron was an avid hunter and fisherman. He lived for his yearly elk hunt with friends and the annual deer hunt in Oklahoma with family. Many a Sunday afternoon was spent at various fishing holes around Fort Collins. He loved being outdoors.

Ron is survived by his wife, Sara, their children Stephanie (husband Justin) Rolfs, Nathan Gonzales, and Leah (husband Joel) Riffle and his grandson, Levi Riffle. Ron is also survived by his mother, 3 sisters, and 2 brothers.

A service to honor and celebrate Ron's life will be held at Faith Church on Friday, March 19, 2021 at 10 am (social distancing and masks required). The service will also be live streamed directly from this page.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial contributions be made to Christ Clinic ( http://www.christclinicfc.org/ ) or Josiah Venture Ministry ( https://www.josiahventure.com/give ).