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Ron Marks
The remarks in the Girard High School Reflector next to Ron’s name says, “Ron’s a surprise package.”
I am not sure if he was a surprise, or to whom, but Ron certainly has lead a very interesting and creative life.
From Navy enlisted man, to Jet Engine Mechanic, to Machinist, to Peace Corps Volunteer, to college, to Law School, to very successful lawyer, to college professor, to writer, to Federal Judge. It has been quite a ride for Ron and his family. It is fair to say that those touched by Ron during these years were aided by his efforts.
Besides Mr. Boyee, Mr Bates and Mr. Kopp at GHS, Ron credits Ron Robinson’s father Don, and Marsha Power’s father Jack as among the most positive influences in his life.
Ron Robinson’s father was extremely influential in his decision to finally go to law school. And Jack Powers influenced him with his overall positive and encouraging presence.
In high school Ron majored in Industrial Arts. On June 10, 1960, just a few days after graduation, Ron and 8 other classmates including Rich Rayouk, Roger Williams, Roy Tony, Bill Robinson, Larry Socha, and Jeff Martin, headed to the San Diego Navel Base boot camp. (Ron cannot remember the 8th person.)
The Girard group was assigned different tasks after training. Ron was assigned the U.S.S Kitty Hawk, an aircraft carrier. “That carrier served our country until it was retired last summer,” Ron tells with some pride. On board Ron was a Jet Engine Mechanic. His shop days at GHS did him well. “All of us were trained to do about everything when manning battle stations,” he says. “The mission was to send as many planes off the carrier and get them back safely.”
Ron’s service on board the Kitty Hawk took Ron around the globe to places he had never heard of before. He has the distinction of being a “Shell Back” which is an initiation given to new sailors on their first crossing of the equator. “Mine was a crossing near Brazil where I got the hell beat out of me,” he says of the initiation.
Ron has sailed around the South American Cape as the Kitty Hawk was too big to go through the Straits of Magellan.
All together Ron did three 6-9 month cruises before ending his service. One of those cruises was to Viet Nam and Laos waters where the Kitty Hawk participated in combat sorties with bombing raids over those two counties.
After his discharge in 1964, Ron became a master machinist and worked for American Welding and Manufacturing in Warren. He machined parts for jet engines. Ron was there for a year when his earlier application as a Peace Corps Volunteer was accepted. In 1965 he was off to the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee for Peace Corps training. His eventual assignment was to Bengal India where he helped fix and maintain emergency vehicles. In the Peace Corps Ron found himself using the same skills he had begun to learn in Shop at GHS and later in the Navy. “India changed my life in ways to numerous to count,” Ron explains rather seriously.
When he returned to Ohio he entered YSU. After graduation he went on to Ohio Northern Law School. Ron credits influence from Girard Attorney Jim Thomas and Ron Robinson’s dad for giving him the incentive to attend Law School.
After graduation from Ohio Northern, Ron wanted to see the American West. The opportunity presented itself for Ron to go to Vancouver, Washington and work with a feisty seasoned trial lawyer, Claude Snider. “Claude was in his late 70’s at the time,” Ron says. “He taught me all that I know to this day about being a trial lawyer.”
Lessons learned well, Ron returned to Trumbull County and practiced law there for more than 30 years, trying more than 100 lawsuits before juries.
While practicing law in Ohio, Ron was also made an Adjunct Professor at Kent State University. In addition to teaching at KSU, Ron also became a student and earned his masters degree in Civil War History.
Ron has had six articles published in law journals, including the Ohio State Law Journal.
In April 2004 Ron was appointed to a life tenured position as a Federal Administrative Law Judge assigned to the Social Security Administration. He was first placed in Cleveland and served as the Chief Judge of the then largest and busiest Social Security Disability Office in the USA.
In March of 2008 he transferred to Cranberry Twp PA where he remains today.
“Administrative Law Judges have a tremendous impact on our daily lives,” Ron explains. “They interpret and rule on administrative regulations. I am assigned to the Social Security Administration. I hold hearings on disability, coverage, and fraud issues among others.”
He goes on to say that every person who appears before him is sick in some way. They may not be disabled but they are not entirely well.
Ron certainly has seen life from an assortment of perspectives that most of us never experience. “I have been blessed,” he says of the people he has met. “They have all facilitated my success.”
He goes on to explain that early on he discovered this inner voice that told him people out there needed help. “My profession has allowed me to give others a helping hand,” he adds.
Ron’s and his first wife had three children. Ron Jr., Susan, and Daniel.
The idea of public service did not end with Ron.
His son, Ron Jr., followed in his father’s footsteps as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Honduras. There he met and married a Honduran National, Isis Vedea. The couple today live in Fort Collins, Colorado with their three children Sofia, Donovan, and Tristan.
Daughter Susan served in AmeriCorps, which is a domestic Peace Corps, doing USA public service where it is most needed. Later she met and married her sister-in-law Isis’ brother Juan. They live today in Flagstaff, Arizona.
Ron’s youngest son Daniel was 24 years old when he lost his life in a fall while on a hiking trek in the Kalalau Valley of Kauai, Hawaii in November of 2005. “Daniel was a genius, a musician, an organic farmer, and a minimalist. He has had several albums of his music published,” Ron says. “He died doing what he loved, spending time in one of the most remote places on earth he could find.”
Ron lives today in Liberty Twp with wife Elaine. They spend free time at their waterfront vacation home in Conneaut, Ohio.
It is safe to say that as he has traveled through life, Ron Marks has left things better than he found them.
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