Obituary of Ronald Clyde Pannell

Ronald Clyde Pannell 88 passed away peacefully at home on Sunday, February 4. He was surrounded by his wife Dawn and his children, Cheryl, Ron Jr, Margaret and Mike. And he had his 5 dogs on the bed with him. He was just where he wanted to be. In September of 2017, Ron was diagnosed with stage 4 esophageal cancer. He endured 7 chemotherapy sessions and there was no improvement. He, his family and his doctors decided that there was no cure and he was enrolled in hospice (Assured Hospice) on January 31, 2018. Ron was born August 24, 1929 to Roger and Rose Pannell in Seattle, WA. Shortly after that, the family moved to North Puyallup where his parents had a grocery store. His dad re-enlisted in the US Navy at the start of WWII. His mother ran the store and opened a neighboring bar. Ron often said that his mother was the best grocery person he ever met. Ron attended school in North Puyallup until the 7th grade when he transferred to Sumner. He made life-long friends from both schools. He graduated from Sumner High School in 1947 and his classmates have met once a month for the past 30+ years. Ron’s military service was in the Navy Reserve. He received his dolphins as a submariner. One of his proudest moments was being able to award the dolphins to a sailor on a nuclear submarine that was sailing into Bangor. He always had a “sea story” to share with fellow Navy personnel. In 1948, he married his high-school sweetheart, Pat Riddell. They had 3 children (Cheryl, Ron Jr and Margaret) Ron worked for several grocery stores in the Puyallup area, managed several stores for Tradewell Inc in the Seattle/Olympia area and finally became the manager for Tradewell/Prairie Market in Shelton. He and Pat were divorced and he met and married Kate Niles in 1967. Kate was a nurse, and introduced Ron the Dr. BB Forman. It was Dr. Forman that inspired Ron to pursue a medical career. In 1976, paramedics were only allowed in Seattle, Tacoma and Spokane. He reasoned that it was rural counties that needed that service just as much, if not more, than urban areas. Ron and Dr. Forman met with the emergency medical association and convinced them of this need. Ron became the first paramedic in Mason County and used his own funds to purchase needed equipment to start Mason County Medic One. He was also, during this time, working as store manager for Prairie Market in Shelton. In 1983 he hired a first grade teacher who was on a years’ leave of absence to work as his bookkeeper. That bookkeeper (Dawn) became his friend and crew on his boat. And then, after Kate’s death from cancer, she became his wife. Ron and Dawn enjoyed boating with the Shelton Yacht Club, attending many Kiwanis functions (Ron was known as “Mr. Kiwanis) and community events. Ron had the ability to see what needed to be done and figure out a way to accomplish it – from bringing paramedics to rural counties, to breathing new life into vintage town Christmas decorations that were destined for the scrap heap, to making sure several stretches of road were as free from litter as he could possibly make them. He would say that the best way to honor him would be to “go and do likewise”. Ron loved music (especially bluegrass, but just about anything else as well), reading, Soduku puzzles and math. He did square roots of license plate numbers for fun on road trips. And he loved his animals – dogs, cats and squirrels. Ron is survived by his wife of 19 years, Dawn. Daughter Cheryl Tokstad from Centralia, Son Ron Jr. from Bellevue and Daughter Margaret (Mike) from Shelton.