Ronald David Amundson was born in Crookston, MN to Oscar and Anna (Johnson) Amundson. From a young age, Ron led a busy independent life, resourcefully earning money in the early years following the depression, until he was old enough to work with his parents in their Bemidji restaurant. Ron learned how to play violin as a young boy and enjoyed playing the flute and piccolo in the Bemidji High School marching band. He recalled the excitement of building a transmitter in shop class that reached around the world. Ron was led to a personal relationship with Jesus, after years of debate with his close friend and locker neighbor, Rueben Brooks. Ron graduated from Bemidji High School in 1950 and Oak Hills Bible Institute in 1954.
June 20, 1954, Ron married the love of his life, Donna Hall. While working at Bemidji Boat Company, he earned his Master Electrician license. He later served as an electrician at Nu-Ply, and subsequently co-founded Suburban Electric. He began working for Lakehead Pipeline in 1968, eventually becoming Station Manager in Clearbrook. To everyone’s surprise, he retired at the age of 55 and was so grateful for the last five years he spent with his wife, Donna.
Ronald and Donna provided an amazing life for their family. They share fond memories of building igloos and ice-rinks, ice-skating on lakes, sledding, sleigh rides in sleighs Ron built, horseback riding, fishing, canoeing in a canoe he built, berry picking, gardening, swimming, camping and traveling in forty-two states and Canada, investing in and playing music together, and enjoying an extensive library of books.
Ron had a heart for missions and serving others. He served as an interim pastor, served with Continental Missions as director and in many other capacities, and he and Donna worked many summers at Midway Bible Camp in northern Manitoba, which Ron recouncted as his most fulfilling days. In recent years, Ron was appreciated as “jack-of-all-trades” at the Ponemah Wah-Bun Chapel. Ron also served as an instructor for the Red Cross.
Ron is remembered as a strong, independent and determined, resourceful and inventive man with a daring and adventurous spirit, always actively working, and up for a challenge, and his lifetime love of reading and studying the Bible.
Ronald is survived by his children; Deborah (Duane) Tollefson of Parkers Prairie, MN, Phillip Amundson of Meadowlands, MN, Rebecca (David) Pedersen of Denton, TX and Miriam (DuWayne) Heppner of Warroad, MN; 24 grandchildren and 39 great-grandchildren; his sisters, JoAn (Carl) Fetty of OR, Judy (Alan) Borror of Hanford, CA, and six nephews and nieces. Ron was predeceased by his loving wife of forty years, Donna; parents, Oscar and Anna Amundson of Bemidji, MN; and brother Orville Amundson, of Washington, DC.
Memorials may be given to:
CIM – Ponemah Chapel via
http://centerforindianministries.org/
Pending Service July 24, 2021
Oak Hills Bible College, Bemidji
Last modified: 12/18/2020
