Ronald "Ron" Poe, 88, of Thetford, Vermont, passed away on October 4, 2024 at Woodstock Terrace in Woodstock, Vermont.

Ron was born to Carroll and Gladys Poe in Brooksville, Kentucky. His parents owned Main Street Grocery requiring much work from them, his brother, Bob, and Ron himself. Until the age of nine, the family lived very close to the Lyric Theater where Ron would attend, with his friends, on Saturday afternoons to watch World War II newsreels and cowboy serials starring Hopalong Cassidy, Durango Kid, Roy Rogers, Gene Autry and others.  Basketball was his favorite sport, to play and to watch, especially the Kentucky Wildcats, whom he supported the rest of his life. In 1945, the family sold the store and purchased a local apple orchard on the edge of town named Canary Ridge where Ron became a farm boy who also helped out on his Dad's two other farms.

Ron's brother Bob was ten years older.  When he graduated high school, World War II was not over so Bob was accepted into the Navy's Officer Candidate School at Duke University and later served aboard ship in the Pacific.

After graduating from Brooksville High School in 1954, Ron entered  the University of Kentucky and graduated in 1959 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering.  His first job was with AVCO Crosley in Cincinnati.  In the Spring of 1960, he met the love of his life, Linda, in Lexington, Kentucky.  They were married on February 3, 1961 and moved to West Palm Beach, Florida where Ron worked for  Pratt and Whitney Aircraft.  After a year in Florida, Ron and Linda moved to Connecticut where he again joined AVCO which had relocated to New London.  After AVCO, Ron and Linda moved to College Park, Maryland in 1965 where Ron enjoyed a 27 year career with Link Simulation Systems of the Singer Company located in Silver Spring.

Ron started at Link as a systems engineer on the Apollo Simulator which trained the Astronauts for the first moon landing on July 16, 1969. He often joked that it took he and half a million other workers for Apollo's success. He then became the project engineer on a locomotive simulator being built for the Santa Fe Railroad.  His next assignment was as Program Manager on the Consolidated Edison Nuclear Power Plant Simulator and then went on to become Division Vice President for Industrial Programs.  All in all, Ron enjoyed a most rewarding career at Link, traveling the world to satisfy his customer base.

Ron's favorite adult pass time was golf which he played in the Link league after work during the week and with friends on the weekends.  On single occasions, he especially enjoyed playing Pebble Beach in California and Mount Fuji in Japan.

Ron retired in 1992 and the family moved to Vermont where he developed a second career joining Upper Valley Services which provides services for people with developmental disabilities like his son Jonathan who was Down Syndrome. Later, he served as President of ARIS which is closely aligned with Upper Valley Services.

His 63 year marriage to his beloved wife, Linda, was a match made in heaven filled with everlasting love for each other.  They produced two wonderful children, a son, Jonathan, and a daughter, Amanda.  Amanda lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina with her husband, Archie, and her two children, Avery and Harper who called their grandfather "Pawpaw".

Ron was predeceased by his parents, Carroll and Gladys Poe, his brother, Bob, and his son, Jonathan.

Ron would say, "what a great run".

Services are being planned for a later date. An on-line guestbook can be found at cabotfh.com