Ronald Roy Dillinger

With much sadness, the family of Ron Dillinger announces his death on June 5, 2011, at Texas Health Hospital, Plano, Texas.

Ron was born Jan. 25, 1944, in Bowling Green, to Clyde and Opal Dillinger. The family, including his younger siblings, Ed and Jeanne, moved to Tiffin in 1960. Ron graduated from Columbian High School in 1962, where he played on the football team. In 1962, he married Charlene, his high school sweetheart, and attended college at Tiffin University, graduating with a bachelor of science degree in accounting in 1966. He went on to pursue a master's degree at Wayne State University.

Ron and Charlene started their family in 1965 with a son, Thomas Edward, followed by a daughter, Cheryl Ann, in Toledo, a year later. The young family moved to South Carolina, where daughter Ronna Jean was born in 1970, and then to Illinois, where son, Nathan Charles was born in 1976. In 1978, they moved to Dallas, Texas. Ron and his family enjoyed exploring the wilderness areas of Texas and were especially fond of Big Bend National Park.

Ron was a member of many car clubs, including The Dallas Mopar Club, The SVT Club of North Texas, The Studebaker Club, The Packard Club and The Kaiser Frasier Club, among many others. He was a founding member of The Texas Muscle Car Club Challenge. Ron also enjoyed antique tractors and was active in the North Texas Antique Tractor & Engine Club. If it had an engine, Ron could make it run and he never stopped encouraging others to finish their projects. He particularly enjoyed racing his 1969 Dodge Superbee and carried home many trophies.

Ron had a smile for everyone, a clear singing voice, a curiosity about the world that was practically insatiable, and a deep and abiding love for his family and his faith. Ron will be missed by everyone who knew him. He is survived by his wife, Charlene; his brother, Ed and wife, Betty Dillinger of Bloomville; his sister, Jeanne and husband, Robert Morrison of Winston-Salem, N.C.; and his four children; and four grandchildren, Tom and Jeanine Dillinger (Brooke Opal, Grant Allen, Maylyn Rose) of Flower Mound, Texas, Cheryl Dillinger and Al Estrada-Berg of Portland, Ore., Ronna Dillinger and Mark Sanders of Evanston, Wyo., and Nathan Dillinger and Fatou Traore (Adam Ahmed) of Grand Prairie, Texas.

Hartley Funeral Home of McComb will host a graveside service at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, June 11, 2011, at Pleasant Hill Cemetery, Portage Township. Minister D.V. Dillinger will lead the service in prayer. Friends and family are warmly invited as we bid farewell to our beloved Ron.

Memorials may be made to The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research.