When Ron Kobylenski moved from his native Philadelphia, PA to North Hartland, VT in 1981, he spent the first couple of years singing John Denver's "Take Me Home Country Roads" with blithe disregard for geography, just because it felt like a fit to him. His family is pretty convinced he was a true Vermonter in an earlier lifetime. Ron was described by a dear friend as a man who "understood THINGS." His mantra was that some person invented everything and therefore as a person he could take it apart and master it. He also believed that if something did not work, it should be cleaned. Then if it still did not work, it needed to be taken apart and fixed. He loved the internet, as prior to that he had to go to the library very frequently to research what he wanted to fix or create. None of this ever came from hubris, but always from a place of curiosity, respect, and enthusiasm.

Ron had particular passions. He learned about photography from his uncle, and not only liked taking pictures but created a darkroom and developed and printed his own in his early years. A recent project was to buy a device to enable him to transfer 8 mm movies to digital. He learned about flying from his father and began in a Piper Colt when he was 16, earning his private license. An unfulfilled dream was to own an Aeronca. He also learned to drive cars on the narrow streets of Philadelphia at age 8, moving them over the repair pit in his father's garage. When he was at Boston University in the 1960s, he designed a water pressure control valve before one was ever patented, a precursor to his skill with designing and installing plumbing in his own home and that of friends. In the 1970s, he earned his license as an airframe and powerplant mechanic through East Coast Aerotech, where he was recognized by the FAA as the outstanding student in his class, and then an A.S. degree from Northeastern University in aviation technology with a specialization in avionics. A lifelong interest in electronics and electricity prevailed, and he installed and constantly upgraded the electrical systems in his house. He had a home computer with a 7-digit display and cards that had to be loaded each time in 1978. Ron took a small detour in the late 1970s and early 80s when the aviation industry was struggling and went to work in the precision tool and die industry. That served to expand his knowledge and skills with more materials, and it bridged his move from Philadelphia to Vermont.

Ron had a fascination with all forms of transportation. In addition to real planes, he built, flew and loved both control line and radio-controlled model planes. He built and shot rockets. He was an avid rail fan and model railroader, creating Lionel or HO models in each place he lived. He fished from a small boat in the Delaware River as a boy. He kept numerous friends of his children busy for several summers on Mascoma Lake on a 17-foot Larson motor boat. He was very successful in getting them all up on water skis.

Ron was a natural and patient teacher. Fellow students from his East Coast class would gather at the Kobylenski apartment until he was sure every one of them could pass the physics exams. When his children Scott and Ann were in elementary school, he came to the kindergarten to guide students through basic keyboarding and making yeast bread in a bag, to be baked in the school kitchen. He taught the fifth grade to make hyperlinks. He was the "Dad volunteer" when that was not especially common. He shepherded a group of boys in making toolboxes and tin can spotlights when they had been more than skeptical about the fourth-grade class opera being written and performed. He taught Ski Runners for a few seasons but shuddered at the prospect of kid's baseball. In the 1990s, he assisted in wiring Hartland Elementary School for internet to allow a computer to be in every classroom, one of the first schools in Vermont to have that infrastructure.

Ron was an amateur radio operator, enjoying Connecticut Valley FM Association breakfasts and events. As WC1S he taught morse code and basic radio skills to aspiring operators. It was quite an adventure when he rallied a group of fellow radio enthusiasts to help him move a transmission tower from southern Connecticut to Hartland to be able to mount the antennas he wanted.

Woven around this never-ending stream of enthusiasm and activities was Ron's deep devotion to his family and his support for their interests and lives. He rode bikes up the hills from North Hartland to the Lebanon Airport frequently with Scott for a couple of summers. He taught him how to drive when he was very young and created an extender gizmo for his trombone when Scott's arms were not yet long enough to move the slide out to all positions. He built a barn with a couple of geriatric ponies looking on balefully when Scott and then Ann developed a passion for horses. That led to a seventeen-year run in equine husbandry, although he never once sat on a horse. Under his watchful eye Ann mastered every power tool in Ron's vast collection before high school. Both Scott and Ann learned to bake by weighing ingredients rather than measuring them. He loved to sing and to dance in the kitchen, and in recent years was a devotee of Daveed and Nobu of Choir!Choir!Choir! Along the way he built cherry lap harps for two friends, and he left unfinished a Strumbly that he hoped his grandchildren might come to use.

Ron was kind, curious, welcoming, sociable, and at heart an extrovert. He deeply understood and supported Sara's core need to put energy into her work and then to have a safe harbor at home with him. He protected that always. He loved the chance to be involved through her with the Casey Family Services, Mascoma Bank, and Alice Peck Day Hospital folks. He was articulate about his joy in his grandchildren, writing just weeks before his death that they were his source of strength.

Ron was adamant that he saw no point in harboring grudges or focusing on perceived harms and differences among people. He wanted people to be accepting of each other, to allow for each other's humanity and imperfections. He especially loved Sara, his wife of 55 years, son Scott Kobylenski and wife his Katie Kobylenski, daughter Ann Kobylenski-Sanderson and her husband Michael Sanderson, grandchildren Beau and Evelyn Sanderson; the families of Katie and Michael, whom he incorporated as his own; his "bonus daughter" Allison Fay Brown and her partner Christopher Bonta; his cousin Ralph Sloan and his family including Alex Sloan and Katherine Sloan Snedaker and her sons Charlie, Jack, and James "Scooter"; his sister and brother-in-law, Eleanor and Casey Kalinowski and their family; the family of sister-in-law and brother-in-law Charlotte and Russ Harrison, including four children and spouses, four grandchildren and two great grandchildren. He was most grateful in the weeks before his death on February 14, 2025, for the support of his friends Sue Mooney, Beach Conger and Trine Bech, Brian Kugel, Bill Brown, Judith and Phil Bush, Mike and Alicia Noll, Peter Tenenbaum, and the "Reading Crew", Garrett Mulder, Gary Macia, and Brian Cali. He deeply trusted and appreciated his medical team over the past 4 and a half years, especially Sergey Devitskiy, MD and Jennifer Frost, APRN.

Ron's family invites all to the "What Would Ron Have Done? Have a Party!" event at Ron and Sara's house, Reading, VT from noon to four PM on Saturday, February 22, 2025. Come when you want; stay as long as you wish. The party will be outdoors and indoors with food, warmth and play. Bring your snow gear and sleds; bring a musical instrument; bring stories of Ron! You will be driving to the middle of nowhere; once you reach Brown Schoolhouse Road it is the first driveway on the left.

If you are interested in making a donation in Ron's memory, please consider the things he supported: health care, including Alice Peck Day Hospital, https://www.alicepeckday.org/about/ways-give , and Dartmouth Cancer Center, https://cancer.dartmouth.edu/donate ; and the vital role of integrity, independent journalism, and communication through Vermont Public, https://www.vermontpublic.org/support-us .