Ronald Thomley

Ronald Thomley, age 83, of Watertown, SD, died on April 16, 2018, at Jenkins Living Center.

Funeral Services for Ronald Thomley will be held on Saturday, April 28, 2018, at 1:00 p.m. at Mundwiler Funeral Home, Milbank, SD.  Visitation will be one hour prior to the service at the funeral home.

Ron Thomley resided with his parents until Feb. 1984. He was then placed at the Human Services Center in Yankton, SD, until his admission to the South Dakota Developmental Center on September 4, 1984. On March 8th, 2018, Ron moved to the Jenkins Living Center in Watertown, until he passed away.

Ron will be remembered for his sense of humor and wonderful smile.  He would often say that “age was just a number”.  He enjoyed western movies, especially the Lone Ranger or anything with John Wayne in it.  Ron could do a great impression of John Wayne.  He would be asked to do this if he was upset with someone or if you asked him to do it and his spirits would lift.  He enjoyed listening to big band music with Glenn Miller being his favorite.

Ron was very smart and would often correct staff’s spelling or help staff spell a word if they needed help.  Ron loved to talk with his friends, family and staff about WWII airplanes.  He knew everything about these planes and enjoyed telling others about them.  He had a very good long-term memory and always remembered people’s names and how he knew them.  He enjoyed driving around in the country looking for pheasants and drinking beer.

His friends and staff remember how change was difficult for him.  If he knew something was going to be changing, he would run away and hide, either by climbing in the trees or burrowing under the leaves.  Ron would get a kick out of telling staff when he came back that “I saw you walk by and then I would climb down and up another tree”.

Ron had a special friendship with his favorite staff member, Cathy. He liked to go with her to get a hamburger/FF and a beer to take to the park where he sat and enjoyed his meal. He always asked when she worked again and would run down the hall to watch her leave work.

He will be greatly missed by his family, friends, staff from SDDC and staff from Jenkins Living Center where they were just getting to know him.

“Fly with the pheasants our friend and know we will always remember you.”