Dr. Ronald Victor LaMar

Dr. Ronald Victor LaMar, husband, father, brother, uncle, grandfather, great grandfather, singer, entertainer, Veteran, traveler, Toastmaster, and Humanitarian died on Thursday, September 20, 2018. He was born November 24, 1929 in San Francisco, CA to Victor and Dorothy LaMar. His two brothers, Dale and Verne, currently live in San Jose, CA. He is also survived by his wife, Marty, and five sons; Robin & Ryan, Walnut Creek, CA, Phil, Los Gatos, CA, Vernon, Lake Stephens, WA and Doug, Omaha NE.

Singing was always a big part of Ron's life. His parents, Victor & Dorothy LaMar, were charter members of the San Jose Grand Opera Association and members of the San Jose Light Opera Association. Ron was singing on stage at the age of 16 and chosen to direct one of the choruses. During his college days at San Jose State, he and a friend teamed up with a ukulele performance for YMCA and YWCA socials. Soon every organization was asking for their services. Their act, "Songs of the Roaring 20's" was good enough to be booked into The Downtown Theatre in San Francisco and TV scouts also booked them. They were full-fledged professional entertainers with a repertoire of hundreds of songs. After some years Ron joined Peninsula Chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society in California and sang with them when they won second place in the International competition in 1973. When he became a full time resident of Pinetop, AZ Ron joined the High Country Chorus in 2005. He was president several times as well as vice-president for membership and served as Show Chairman for the annual summer show. Ron was instrumental in organizing the Barbershop Christmas in the Pines show, inviting local school choruses to sing with the High Country Chorus. Through this idea came the practice of giving donations at the show to support the local school music programs. He especially enjoyed singing with his quartet, Ponderosa Pines.

After graduating from San Jose State, Ron was on active duty from August 1952 to June 1954 with the U.S. Navy as Radioman, Third Class on the ship USS General Randall.

Ron spent most of his career in education in the Cupertino Elementary School District. He began as a teacher, then principal, Assistant Superintendent Area Administration and on special assignment to the district office. While serving as an elementary school principal he received his Ed.D in Educational Curriculum from the University of California, Berkley. He headed many district programs such as Home Schooling, Instrumental Music, Young Audiences Concerts, Evaluation and English Language Learners. He was a member of the Cupertino Cadre, organizational development group and served as a consultant with various school districts on individualizing Instruction, communication skills and school plan development. He was an editorial consultant to Noble and Noble Publishers in developing "Spell Write" basic spelling programs and co-authored "Spell Tapes", a program of audio reinforcement. When computers were introduced in the school district, he gave some of the first in-service classes for teachers. Ron retired from the school district in 1990 only to return to the district ofice to write grants and supervise other programs.

Ron excelled as a Humanitarian. He served as a board member of Pacific Autism Center for Education for many years. When repairs were needed for the homes of the clients, Ron was there to help fix whatever was needed. He served as a temporary CEO for PACE and worked hard for the organization without a salary. One of the group homes was named the "LaMar Home" in his honor. Ron and his wife, Marty, helped local author Carol Sletten, award a scholarship to a graduate from Alchesay, with the proceds from the performance of her play, "Three Strong Western Women". Ron answered Marty's question, "What more can we do?" by working for months to obtain a non-profit status for Native Women Scholars, Inc. This organization founded by Ron and Marty LaMar has awarded scholarships to 27 local Native women to attend college. It has seen six students graduate during its five years as a non-profit. Three of the young women are now employed on the Fort Apache Reservation and one is with Blue Ridge School District.

A Service of Thanksgiving for the life of Ron LaMr will take place on Monday, October 8, 2018 at 11:00 a.m. at Owens Livingston Mortuary, 320 North 9th Street, Show Low, AZ.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to Native Women Scholars, Inc., 4220 West Adams Avenue, Show Low, AZ 85901.