Ronald Oates Obituary
Ronald Wayne Oates left his earthly home and went to be with his Lord and Savior on Friday, November 26, 2021. He was born on April 25, 1943 to the late Robert and Edith Oates. He was also preceded in death by his brother, Larry Oates. Ron is survived by his wife of 44 years, Jean Lipham Oates; 2 daughters, Stephanie Merchiore (Chris) of Blairsville, Georgia, and Lisa Lennkh (Matthias) of London, England; grandson, Alexandre Lennkh and Ron's sister, Jan Crawford (Don) of Greensboro, Georgia.
Ron was born and raised in Henderson County and was the president of the first graduating class of East Henderson High School in 1961. He then graduated from NC State in 1965 and loved NC State basketball and football, as well as the Atlanta Braves.
Ron began his career in 1965 with Stencel Aero Engineering, where his goal and passion became saving the lives of military pilots. His entire career was designing and testing ejection seats for military aircraft. He was considered one of the world's experts on the seat of the Harrier aircraft. Anytime a military pilot had to eject from his or her plane, Ron had no peace until he had studied what went wrong and what went right in the ejection. After Stencel, he continued his career with Universal Propulsion Company, Inc in Arizona followed by Logistics Management Engineering in Warminster, Pennsylvania and Asheville, North Carolina. The last 18 years of his career were spent serving as a civilian engineer for the Navy at Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland. There he was honored in a ceremony and awarded the status of Senior Engineer.
He was a charter member of Covenant Presbyterian Church, where he served as a deacon, a member of the building committee, 2 pastor search committees, as well as a youth Sunday School Teacher. He had a strong faith and believed in miracles, which he recorded in a journal.
His family honored his wishes to have his body donated to medical science and research in hopes that he could make someone else's life better by doing so. A memorial service will be held at Covenant Presbyterian Church in March and will be announced on this page once the date is set.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Deacon's Ministry Fund at Covenant Presbyterian Church, 2101 Kanuga Rd, Hendersonville, NC 28739.
Ron's family would like to express how grateful they are for the staff at Sunnybrook Assisted Living Facility, Sarah Bently, FNP at Dr. AbuMoussa's office, and Amy Wilkes at Kindred Home Health Care for the excellent and compassionate care given to Ron.
