Ronald Cleveland Shover

May 4, 1927 – January 13, 2017

Ronald Cleveland “Snowball” Shover died peacefully in his sleep in the early morning hours of Friday, January 13th at his winter home in DeBary, FL following several months of declining illness. He was 89 years old.

Ron was a native Vermonter, the fourth of six children born to Cleveland Harold Shover and Jessie (Spicer) Shover in Richford, Vermont, at the height of the Great Depression. In 1950 Ronald married the love of his life Marion (Carter) Shover, living in the areas of Burlington and Underhill Vermont during their early years of marriage, later settling in Richmond, Vermont where they raised four children together. For the past three decades Ron and Marion were snowbirds, spending summers in Vermont and winters in Florida.

Ronald was a WWII veteran, enlisting in the U.S. Navy at the age of 17. He later signed on with the Army National Guard and was called up for active duty for the Korean conflict as a field medic attached to the armored division. His next brush with military service was with the Vermont Air National Guard (VTANG) where he was in charge of the base medical clinic. Ron worked for the Air National Guard until his retirement in the fall of 1980, achieving the rank of Senior Master Sergeant.

Having wide and varied interests, Ron began singing as a young boy and was well known as the “Nightingale of Richford”. As an adult he sang in several choirs, a barbershop quartet, and an all-male group in Deland, FL named “Great Expectations”. In the Burlington and Richmond Vermont areas he was a local tenor soloist, often singing on Christmas eve for churches in the area. Some of his other favorite interests through the years included oil painting, fly fishing, hunting, training bird dogs, sky diving, bowling, golfing, gardening and taking his family on summer camping trips.

Ronald was predeceased by his parents Cleveland and Jessie, his brothers William and Douglas, his sisters Mae and Geraldine. He is survived by: his last remaining sibling, George, his beloved and devoted wife of 66 years, Marion, his four children Pamela, Kathryn, James and Ronald, grandchildren Angela Ross, Jessie Carlisle, Christopher Sutton, Jhana Hart, Emmalee Bartman, Jeffery Shover, Elijah Shover, and Ethan Shover, two great-grandchildren Hannah and Laila, and many nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews, cousins and other extended family members.

A memorial service will be held at 2pm, Monday January 23rd at Deltona Memorial Funeral Home, 1295 Saxon Blvd, Orange City, FL. Interment will be in the spring at the Vermont Veterans Cemetery, Randolph, Vermont.

In lieu of flowers please make a contribution in Ronald’s memory to: West Volusia Humane Society, 800 Humane Society Rd, DeLand, FL 32720