Ronald Leroy Gessaman

Ronald “Ron” L. Gessaman, 68, of Great Falls, passed away Monday, July 2, 2018, due to complications from a stroke. A funeral service will be Saturday, July 7, 2018 at 2:30 at Harvest Springs Church with burial to follow at Riverside Cemetery in Fort Benton. Schnider Funeral Home is handling the arrangements. Ron was born in Fort Benton, Montana on December 7, 1949 to Hayden and June (Lux) Gessaman and raised on the family farm together with his brother, Franklin and sister Kathie until his father died in 1961. The family then moved to Great Falls, where he graduated from Great Falls High in 1967. Ron attended Montana State University in Bozeman and graduated Magna Cum Laude in 1971 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering. Despite winning a National Science Fellowship to graduate school to study chemistry, he was drafted and served honorably in the Army from 1971 to 1973. After leaving the Army, he joined UOP (now Honeywell) as a chemical engineer in the tech service department, rising to the level of Superchief. He was posted to refineries and chemical plants around the world and assisted with the startup of many, including SASOL II and III in South Africa. There, he met fellow chemical engineer Kathleen Zivic and married her in Texas in 1983. Ron and Kathy retired from UOP and settled in Great Falls in 1984, where their daughter Karen was born. They built their own home and shared many years of crafting improvements, both to their own home and to Ron's mother's. A born engineer and farm boy, Ron enjoyed helping manage the family farm, learning the new Mac computers when they came in at Sacajawea school (where he was a devoted PTA parent), fixing just about anything, learning new facts at the library, and tracking and analyzing household data for efficiencies. He seldom missed an opportunity to devise and recommend improvements, whether to Karen's term papers, Kathy's Christmas newsletters, household energy use, coal plants, or local government bodies. Ron was a firm believer in open and transparent government, a free democracy, and an active citizenry as well as a clean and healthful environment. Ron was very close to his family and friends and could be relied upon to drop everything and answer a call for help, no matter how great or small the project. His family will miss his unfailing love, support, and expertise. He leaves behind his wife of 35 years, Kathleen; daughter Karen; brother Franklin (Kathy); sister Kathie Gessaman;nephew and niece Eron and Charity Gessaman; two great-nephews; uncle Harold (Susie) Lux; aunt Edna Balkoski; and numerous cousins. He goes to join his beloved mother, June and father Hayden Gessaman; grandparents; and uncles Ted and Fred Lux and Howard Gessaman. In lieu of flowers, please consider memorials to the Great Falls Public Library.