Ronnie Lynn Thompson

What can a Mother say about the loss of a child? I can tell you the pain never goes away, you just don’t cry every day! Your heart aches for the husband he will never be, for a daughter in law I will never know, for a grandchild my arms will never hold!

I am grateful that I did have 16 years with him, and that I took a lot of pictures. Ronnie knew what he wanted to be at a very early age. He wanted to be in the military, which he was. Ronnie was in the Air Force J.R.O.T.C. in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was in the Army J.R.O.T.C. in Taylorsville, Utah. He was in the Navy Sea Cadets at Fort Douglas, Utah. And he was training with the Marines (the weekend he died.) Ronnie was the first born Grandson on both sides of the family and he was also the first born Great Grandson on both sides of the family. Ronnie was named after his Father and both of his Grandfathers. He was very close to his Grandpa & Grandma Webb, and he named my Grandma, his Great Grandma “Great” which everyone still calls her to this very day!

Ronnie was given a full military funeral at 16. I had no idea that he would be so honored. I remember calling his Army J.R.O.T.C. instructor, LTC ( R ) Charles Horton. I told him Ronnie had died in a auto accident and I asked if I could bury my son in his Army uniform. He said yes. The Taylorsville High School Army J.R.O.T.C. Cadets and instructors were amazing and I know my son would have been so honored that they gave him a full military funeral. The Army cadets were his pall bearers, (including his very good friend Mike Ferderber) the cadets gave him a 21-gun salute and another cadet played “Taps”. They also had a United States Flag draped over his casket, and they folded the flag and presented it to me. The Marine that Ronnie had been working with during that summer handed me a letter he wrote about Ronnie enclosed in a red cover with the Marine logo on the front. The Taylorsville High School student body officers also attended Ronnie’s funeral. His High school further honored him by putting a memorial with a photo of Ronnie on the Army J.R.O.T.C. page in the year book and the year he would have graduated he was again remembered in the year book. I was given Ronnie’s diploma and the letter he would have earned in academics. I also received letters from the President, Bill Clinton and from Senator Orrin Hatch.

Ronnie wanted to be a aerospace engineer and had been accepted (two years before he was to graduate from high school) into West Virginia Military Academy. Ronnie had also been invited to go to the White House the following spring. Something he was looking forward to. I had to notify them both that Ronnie had passed away.

Ronnie was on the exhibition rifle team, and on the color guard. He also was involved in the community by helping out at a local elementary school. Ronnie would go to school very early so he could practice his marksmanship in the indoor rifle rage. A wonderful man who volunteered his time to the cadets, Mr. George Jarvis was always there, and Ronnie admired him a lot. Ronnie practiced throwing and spinning his rifle so much that he injured his right wrist. He wore a brace on his wrist until he had surgery on it less than a month before he was killed in the auto accident.

The day Ronnie died he had got up very early to go drill with the Marines. After they were done the cadets stopped by our home to get Ronnie’s rifles. They were on their way to the Tooele Army Depot to use their range to improve their shooting skills.

In the end only 3 cadets were in the car. Ronnie and the other passenger had called out “shot gun” for the front seat. I guess Ronnie was in the back seat and Josh was in the front seat. When they took the exit from I-80 to SR 36 in Tooele county, Ronnie and Josh changed seats. ( This is what I had been told. ) They were traveling on SR 36 on a 2 lane highway with a posted speed limit of 60 MPH. They had just entered the small town of Erda, Utah when the driver (as the newspaper article stated) either fell asleep or was distracted and went off the road. The driver over corrected and their car was struck by a car in the other lane. Ronnie died on impact.

My daughter had been babysitting my cousins kids and he had brought her home when two police officers pulled up in front of our home. They asked for Ronnie’s Parents, and my daughter said we were not home. A few minutes later I arrived at my home and Ronnie’s Father pulled up right behind me. I thought it was strange that everyone was in the front yard, and I wondered why my children’s Father was there (we were divorced) I first thought my house had been robbed, oh how I wish that was what the officers were going to tell me. I was asked if I was the Mother of Ronnie Thompson, and I said yes. I was then told that he had been involved in a auto accident and of course my first thought was which hospital was he at. The officers then told me my son had died in a auto accident. My memory is very bad from then on. My daughter said I screamed and passed out. My boyfriend at the time carried me inside the house. When I opened my eyes my living room was full of people and I could not figure out how they all got there. I begged to see my son, but the officers said no. I was told he would be brought to Salt Lake the next morning and I could see him then.

My worst nightmare had happened. My son was dead. Later I would remember that I told him as he walked out our front door for the last time that “I loved him.”

I now go visit a grave. I put flowers there in the summer and keep the grass trimmed in a large area around the headstone so the grounds keepers who mow the lawn don’t have to run over his headstone. I always make sure he has a flag on his grave. In the fall I always put a orange hunting hat on his grave. Ronnie loved deer hunting. I also put up holiday decorations including a small Christmas tree.

For many years after Ronnie had died I was able to have cadets do a color guard at his grave and I was also able to have someone play “Taps”. When Ronnie’s little sister started high school she signed up for the Army J.R.O.T.C. She was on the color guard and she would arrange for the color guard at her brothers grave. We even had another cadet who could play “Taps”. We would do this on the anniversary date of his death and on his Birthday. I have many photos of these cadets who would put on their uniforms and arrive at the cemetery with the huge flags and rifles or sabers. When my daughter graduated from Taylorsville High the color guards stopped, but I still was able to have someone to play “Taps” for a couple more years. We also write messages to Ronnie on the anniversary of his death and tie them to balloons and set them free. On Christmas Eve we put silk white roses on his headstone and light a candle. On his Birthday we meet at his grave, tie messages to balloons and send them off to Heaven.

Then we eat Ronnie’s favorite food (Pizza). Ronnie’s friend Mike Ferderber, who has been to almost every single event I have at the grave or anywhere else. Since I have made Ronnie a Memorial on the internet, I have found some of Ronnie’s friends. The memorial has become very important to me. I have been touched by the things his friends and others have posted on his memorial profile. I have also used this Memorial to help spread the word about drowsy driving, and to make people more aware of this danger.

— Submitted by Lorri Henseler