Ronda Renee Wilson

Ronda was born August 20, 1968 to Ronald and Valerie Loyd. She was born on her mother’s 20th birthday. Ronda was an adventurous child, and, along with her younger sister, a proud junior ranger. At an early age, she enjoyed pickles, camping, fishing, riding in her dad’s speed boat, and being a Girl Scout (which she continued throughout high school). She developed a love for dancing, and, at the age of 6 years old, she was on her first dance team.When her mom started the dance/drill team at Grace Yokley Jr. High in 1983, Ronda was there to help. Ronda and her mom worked together at GYS to build a program that not only gave students a chance to express themselves through dance, they also created a sense of community by starting many traditions that still continue today with her daughter Renee. The annual spaghetti dinner was a community event where Ronda did what she does best, entertain, connect with others and make it fun and memorable. In high school, Ronda was active in drill team, cheerleading, leadership, and even traveled to Germany with her foreign language class.

She graduated from Ontario High School in 1986. She met her future husband, Robert Wilson, while working at Home Depot. After working together for 2 years, they started dating, and got married in February 1994. They welcomed their first child, son Ronald, later that year and then their daughter, Renee, the following year. Ronda played an active role in her family’s lives, whether it was a cub scout leader, girl scout leader, team mom, party planner, or active volunteer, she was always present.

When her kids were still young she decided to go back to college to become a teacher. She graduated college from CSU San Bernardino in 2000 and started teaching at Grace Yokley School the next year. Ronda taught history, drill team, and leadership for 23 years at GYS. She was named Educator of the Year in 2023. She truly loved what she did and always used to say, “I can't believe they pay me to teach and hang out with kids all day.” She looked forward to family time, staying at home with her husband and kids, celebrating birthdays, having Sunday dinners at her parents house, and camping or traveling on weekends and during the summer.

In 2022 she welcomed a new daughter-in-law, Kaley, and son-in-law, Dillon, and then in 2023 her first grandson, Wesley. The last two years were truly the happiest, and busiest times for Ronda. Dividing her time between family and work, Ronda found ways to include her family in one of her other great loves, dance. She started a family company, again, finding a way to create experiences for others through dance.

Ronda was an amazing daughter, sister, wife, mother, aunt, grandma, mentor and friend. She was so deeply loved by her community, students, drill team members, friends and family. She leaves behind a legacy of kindness, understanding, and acceptance. She had a gift of making people feel special, even if she only knew you for a short time. She was an inspiration and will be greatly missed.