Ronald Eric Stewart

Ronald (Ron) Eric Stewart passed away in Gresham, Oregon on July 27, 2015. He was born in Bremerton, Washington to Robert Lee and Cecelia Lorraine (Everson) Stewart, and grew up in Washington, Alaska, and Oregon. Ron graduated from Centennial High School in Portland. After high school, he attended Warner Pacific College where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree.

In 1966, Ron married the love of his life, Geraldine (Geri) Miller, at the Lynchwood Church of God. After their wedding, they moved to Eugene, Oregon where Ron served as youth pastor at the Eugene Church of God for one year. From 1967 to 1969, Ron and Geri served in the Peace Corp in Brazil and afterwards returned home to Oregon where their son, Chad, was born in 1970.

For several years, Ron worked in the landscaping business for Gerber Gardens in Lake Oswego. During that time, Ron and Geri moved to Sandy, Oregon and built their first home. In 1976, they moved to Pacifica, California where Ron attended the California Institute of Asian Studies in San Francisco and completed the coursework towards a Master of Arts degree. After four years in California, they once again returned to Oregon and Ron designed and built their home in Gresham where they have lived for 35 years.

For a short time, Ron had his own business as a landscape gardener, but soon realized that he wanted to enter the field of education. After a meeting with Mother Francine of the Franciscan Montessori Earth School, he began working at the school. At the same time, he completed his Montessori Diploma in conjunction with a Master of Education degree at the University of Portland. For a year, Ron was a Montessori guide in the Junior Division of St. Francis Academy. Then, he and Mother Francine started the Senior Division level, co-creating the first secondary Montessori program on the West Coast. Ron dedicated the next 13 years of his life to working with his students and being a guide, assisting and challenging them to reach their full human potential. He taught courses that included Montessori Seminar, Global Studies, World Religions, World History, Writing, Spanish, Philosophy, and Integrating Seminar. Ron encouraged his students to think for themselves, to relate with insight and integrity, and to be at home in themselves. In later years at St. Francis Academy, Ron and Geri led the Senior Division students on study tours to the East Coast, on service projects to Mexico, and on cultural exchange programs to China and England/Scotland. Ron taught at St. Francis Academy until 2001 when the Senior Division was closed. Later that year, he went to Ohio where he worked at the Hershey Montessori Farm School for one year before returning to Oregon. Within the next few years, he eased into retirement.

Between 1990-1998, Ron also taught higher education courses as an adjunct instructor at Evergreen State College, Marylhurst University, and at the Campus Ministry Center at Portland State University.

In 2008, Ron was diagnosed with kidney cancer and given weeks to a few months to live. Supported by a team of doctors, three surgeries, a targeted chemotherapy, and his involvement in Radiant Mind, Ron survived the first incidence of cancer. During the next seven years, Ron brought Peter Fenner, author and teacher of Radiant Mind, to Portland, helped in the formation and facilitation of meetings and workshops, and worked to expand the Radiant Mind community in the Pacific Northwest. He was devoted to developing and supporting this community, and was deeply respected and greatly loved in return.

Ron always had a passion for his own spiritual development and for creating the opportunity for that same growth in young people. Beginning in 2013, he was actively involved with the Peace in Schools program through One House of Peace, a non-profit organization bringing mindfulness practice to teenagers in the Portland area. He served on the Board for Peace in Schools and through his guidance, wisdom, and experience, Ron was instrumental in helping the organization establish the first for-credit mindfulness course in a U.S. public high school. His vision – shared by friends in the organization who love him dearly – was for meditation and mindfulness practices to be taught to all youth. His work with Peace in Schools made it possible for hundreds of young people to learn skills that support presence, awareness, peace, and compassion.

In March 2015, Ron was again diagnosed with cancer. Despite another operation, it aggressively spread, and he passed away in July. He neither fought the disease, nor sought to hasten it. Just Being each day with what Is. Dying, as he had lived those last seven years—present, aware, and at peace—unconcerned with living, unconcerned with dying.

In addition to Ron’s lifework was as an educator and his own spiritual process, he enjoyed designing, building, and remodeling his own homes; landscaping, traveling, walking, reading; drawing architectural designs for unique houses, cars, boats, and gliders; and being with his family and friends.

Ron was preceded in death by his father, Robert. He is survived by his mother, Cecelia; his wife, Geri; his son, Chad; daughter-in-law, Maki; grandchildren, Erika and Khor; sister, Lynne, and brother, Charles. He is missed, and yet, in a very real way, always with us.