Ronald Lee Gould

Ronald Lee Gould (Ron) was born in Muncie, IN on the 31st of July, 1933, exactly 1 year, 1 month, and 1 day after the birth of his older brother, Glen. They were the only two children of Claude and Virginia Gould.
The brothers attended the Selma School in Selma, IN., completing all 12 year of the studies in the school’s single building. Ron graduated High School in 1951 and then worked a string of jobs before being drafted into the army in November 1953. He served for two years of which 18 months were spent as an MP at the Yuma Test Station, until honorably discharged in November 1955.
As the often told story goes, Ron returned to Indiana that winter and one day had a job with a crew digging a ditch. It was a cold and miserable day and Ron looked around noting that the rest of the crew was made up of men stretching in age from his own to that of his father’s. Ron vowed that he would not spend his life doing that kind of menial labor and within three months started classes at Indiana Technical College in Ft. Wayne, IN. He graduated in just three years with a BS Degree in Electronic Engineering in early 1959. While in college, Ron also met a nursing student, Janice Jean Reed. She too completed her studies in 1959 and the two were married on September 12th of that year.
Over the next seven years Ron worked for Sperry Gyroscope, following opportunities within the company that took the young couple from Long Island, NY out to San Jose, CA back to Fort Worth, Texas (where both of their children were born) up to Salt Lake City, Utah back again to New York before finally returning to California in 1965. The family settled in the small town of Cupertino, CA, decades before the city would become synonymous with a certain “produce” company.
At that point Ron began working for Dalmo Victor as a design engineer for equipment to ascertain if the wiring in an F-4 Phantom Jet Fighter had sustained any damage. In late 1967, field testing this equipment lead to Ron traveling to Saigon at the height of the Vietnam war. Luckily he returned to the U.S. just days before the Tet Offensive.
For the majority of Ron’s professional career, he never had to search and interview for new positions or new jobs. Invariably his colleagues and associates would start working in a new department or for a new company at which they had a need for his talents, and would invite him to “come along”. It was in this manner that in 1969 Ron was invited to come and work at Hewlett-Packard. Ron stayed at HP for the next 28 ½ years during which he held a number of different positions, from individual contributor to management of several diverse groups. At his retirement in November 1997, his co-workers officially crowned him with the title, “CAD Czar”.
After his wife, Jan, retired from El Camino Hospital in 1998, the couple moved to Prescott, AZ in 1999 to begin construction of their dream house on a lot they had found among the granite boulders in a new development called SouthView. They moved into the house in February 2000. As SouthView grew, the Gould’s became the heart of the community. Over the last two decades they have greeted new neighbors and organized many social events including New Year’s Eve Parties and an annual Summer block party. Ron has served several terms as HOA President as well as undertaking other projects to benefit the SouthView community.
Beyond his neighborhood and throughout his life, Ron has strived to serve others. In the 1970’s he was a reserve police officer for the San Jose Police Department. At age 70 he began volunteering every summer at the Grand Canyon as part of the Nation Park Service’s Preventative Search and Rescue (PSAR). For six years, Ron spent several days each summer hiking the trails of the Grand Canyon, talking with visitors: answering questions and providing assistance. Eventually Ron shifted from volunteering at the Grand Canyon to volunteering at the Prescott library. The views weren’t as scenic but the trails were air conditioned.
Ronald Lee Gould passed away on Saturday, January 15, one day before the 40th anniversary of the death of his brother, Glen. Ron was at his home in Prescott, AZ in the presence of his family. Ron is survived by his wife of 62 years, Janice Jean Gould; their daughter and her husband, Cheryl and Tim Warstler; their son and his wife, Kenneth and Katherine Gould, and their grandsons, Nicholas and Jackson Gould.
Ruffner-Wakelin Funeral Homes are entrusted with the arrangements. Please log on to www.ruffnerwakelin.com to sign the online guestbook and share a memory with the family.