Colonel Ronald V. Meilstrup

Colonel Ronald V. Meilstrup, 76, passed away at his Gurnee, IL home on May 24th 2021. Ronald was born on May 3, 1945 to Albert and Eunice Meilstrup. Just into his first year of college at Purdue University, he decided to join the Air Force ROTC, after college he was stationed at March Air Force Base in Riverside, CA for his first assignment as a Supply Officer. During his time at Purdue he met his wife and they soon married thereafter in 1968 – almost 53 years of marriage.After serving at March, he was next stationed at Eielson Air Force Base in Fairbanks, Alaska. Ronald spent 30 years in the Air Force, both Active Duty and Reserves,Returning to South Bend in 1972 he went to work for his father's business, Ace Refrigerated Trucking. He worked there for 14 years – and had worked there prior to his military service – all in about 20 years. In 1987 he had reactivated his active service with the Selective Service at Great Lakes Naval Base until his retirement in 2000 and then he worked further with the government until his retirement in 2014. What hobbies did he not have? We will list just a few: Scuba diving, cross country skiing, down -hill skiing, photography, pottery, reading historical and leadership books, magic tricks, painting, riding his bicycle, collecting coins, collecting pipes, and we will leave it at those.He is preceded in death by his parents. Ronald is survived by his wife, Elyce; his son, Andy (Julie); daughter, Amanda (Mike); grandsons, Joe, Will and Gabe; brother, Tom (Ruth Ann) Meilstrup; and sister, Sue (Bruce) VanDerBeek.In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the michaeljfox.org Parkinson foundation. A Memorial Service will be held Thursday, June 10 at 4:30 p.m., with visitation beginning at 3 p.m., at McGann Hay University Chapel, 2313 E. Edison Rd., South Bend. To send private condolences, please visit www.McGannHay.com