Reinhold (“Ron”) E. Durden, age 78, passed away on 4/6/26 in Arlington, Texas. He was born on 2/8/48 in Germany to Jim and Ludmilla Durden. As part of a military family, Ron lived various places when younger but also grew up in Texas, where he attended high school. He obtained both his BA (1974) and MA (1977) degrees in Sociology from the University of Texas at Arlington.
After high school he served as an Army medic in Vietnam, E4, receiving two commendations in 1968 and an honorable discharge in 1972.
He worked as a phlebotomist in a Dallas hospital setting, as a reserve officer for the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department, and as an Associate Planner for the Tarrant County Planning Department before coming to Southwestern Bell, now AT&T, where he met and married his wife Kathy in 1979. They were married
until she died in a 1985 highway accident. Ron continued to work at AT&T as an installer and later as a remote tester for many years before retiring.
In his spare time Ron enjoyed fishing at Lake Benbrook, visiting the Ft. Worth Botanical Gardens, nature walks in local parks, and container gardening at home. He was interested in a variety of books, movies, and art works. Ron especially liked museum trips and “treasure hunting” (i.e., thrifting). He enjoyed eating out and casual conversations with all kinds of people.
His family and friends will remember him as smart, independent, and determined as well as curious and gregarious. The “initiative, sound judgment, loyalty and will to succeed” recognized by the Army seems apt years later. Sometimes short- tempered or difficult but more often easy-going and generous, Ron will be missed by those closest to him and not likely forgotten by anyone he knew.
He is survived by his sister, Angelina Yen, who lives in Colorado, his niece Kristy and two nephews, Stephen and Michael.
