Ronald Ray Curry

Ronald Ray Curry slipped into the eternities late in the evening of January 3, 2022. He was surrounded by those who loved him and cared for him during his six-month battle with cancer. He was 71-years old. Ron spent most of his youth in Western Colorado. A big brother to his six siblings, he adored his mother and followed in his father’s basketball-playing footsteps. (Even late in his life, his silky jump shot was something to envy.) In school, he excelled on the court, on the track, and on stage. In 1968, he won “Best Actor” in the State of Colorado for his role in his high school’s production of Shaw’s “Arms and the Man.” Adulthood found Ron living in Colorado, Germany, and California, and working in sprocket factories, oil fields, the insurance industry, and even the boardgame business. Amidst all the changing scenery and careers, cooking was the great constant. Part artist and part scientist, Ron’s paintbrush was a sharp knife and his beaker a heavy-bottomed saucepan. To watch him cook was to witness a blur of chopping, whisking, tasting, and refining. A chef by profession, Ron was home in any kitchen; he enjoyed serving a president a delicate hollandaise ladled over a perfectly poached egg just as much as he enjoyed teaching a little child how to make a grilled cheese sandwich. Ron savored any chance he had to turn a phrase, and he found writing to be a joy. For several years, he combined his loves of writing and cooking when he was hired to pen a restaurant column for a local Sacramento paper. He relished the fact that he won the job by writing a review of a warehouse club’s $1.50 hotdogs. From a young age, when his grandparents would drive him up to Grand Mesa, he felt at peace in the outdoors. Ron “hunted” for chantarelles in any fog-kissed mountain he passed; he fly-fished for rainbows on the Roaring Fork, and he inhaled the ocean’s abundant air from Monterey to Barrow and every point in between. Ron laughed often. He wore his thick hair short, then long, then short again. A beard, a mustache, or goatee almost always graced his face. His mind was quick and full, especially with a wealth of trivia that would make any Jeopardy champion jealous. Above all, Ron was quick to smile, to notice a need, and to make any person feel like a friend. He loved people, and he loved God. His was an unshakable testimony in the reality of a Heavenly Father and the eternal realm that he now calls home. A member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Ron served in many callings and capacities, but none that he liked more than being an early-morning seminary teacher to groggy, yet grateful, teenagers. His love, his lessons, and his testimony, will long be a legacy. Ron is survived by his wife, Magdalena; children, Tyrone, Simone (Brent) Wiegand, and Alex (Jill); grandchildren, Conrad, Ashlie, Isaak, Spencer, Lauren, Abigail, Brooke, Benjamin, Jason, and Jane; great-grandchildren, Kylan and Blair; siblings Dave, Steve (Sandra), Sandy (Ted) Allyn, Judy (Bob) Murphy, Keith (Marion), and Sharon (Allen) Smallwood; his beloved Uncle John & Aunt Carolyn Wilt, as well as many nieces, nephews, and cousins. He was preceded in death by his parents, Beverly and Weldon. Funeral services will be at 11 A.M. Friday, January 7, 2022, at the Deseret Building of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 8267 Deseret Avenue in Fair Oaks, California. Per his request, Ron’s ashes will be scattered in his beloved Pacific Ocean.