Rev. Ronald Arthur Hersom

Reverend Ronald Arthur “Ron” Hersom passed from this life on April 22, 2022. He died quietly at home attended by his steadfast caregiver, Rodney Staley. Ron had dealt for nearly 10 years with leukemia and then the graft versus host disease which resulted from a bone marrow transplant. As his body grew increasingly frail, his spirit and spirituality, love of life and love of friends, grew ever stronger. Although missed dearly, it is good that he finally can be at peace. Ron was born on October 13, 1950, in Kittery, Maine, to Eugene F. and Marie J. Hart Hersom who pre-deceased him. He is survived by his daughter Tamara Young of Iowa, his brother Eugene “Gene” F. Hersom Jr., his nephew Eugene F. “Fred” Hersom III, and a grandniece of Maine. Ron grew up in Kittery and received his BS degree from the University of Southern Maine. He earned an MS in systems management from the University of Southern California in 1989. Ron was a civilian contractor to the US Air Force functioning as project manager and logistic specialist for large projects in several parts of the country including Maine and Alaska. Ron was an accomplished vocalist, touring as a young man with Up with People, then as a Southern Baptist singer and evangelizer, and later performing with the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus. He brought his impressive organization skills and his BIG personality to social activism and his involvement in gay communities wherever he lived. He was instrumental in developing numerous fundraisers, demonstrations, parades and celebrations. Ultimately, Ron discovered Unitarian Universalism where he was able to bring to bear his substantial talents and wide-ranging experiences to his involvement as a congregant, lay leader and then minister. He flourished in the UU principles, particularly the “shared search for spiritual growth, guided by a dynamic, living tradition". Before entering the ministry, Ron was active in several Unitarian Universalist congregations including the First Parish of Arlington UU in Massachusetts and The UU Society of Bangor in Maine where he also served as treasurer. He was a participant in the Unitarian Universalist Association New England Leadership School (NELS) and then for several years served on its faculty. Accomplishing a crucial step in his spiritual journey, Ron earned his Master of Divinity from the Starr King School for the Ministry and became an ordained UU Minister in 2007. His spiritual journey also included traveling the globe. As a seminarian at Starr King, Ron was a visiting scholar at the Shinto Tsubaki Grand Shrine in Suzuka, Japan. He traveled to Kolozsvár, Transylvania, to present at a UU theological symposium in 2006. He later toured several countries in Africa with a delegation from the UUA. Ron served as Acting Assistant Minister at the First Unitarian Church of Albuquerque, New Mexico, before he was called to be the settled Minister at the UU Church of Jacksonville, Florida, in 2010. That charge concluded during his declining health. If you knew Ron, you surely remember his generous smile, enthusiasm for leading congregations in singing rounds, non-stop sense of humor, and home-made apple pies. We ask that each of you in your own way pray for him, as he did for us. Ron requested that donations in his memory be made to any agency supporting people who have fled the violence in Ukraine or to the UUSC's Emergency Response Fund. www.uusc.org A memorial service for Ron will be held on Sunday May 29 at 2:00 at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Jacksonville, 7405 Arlington Expressway, Jacksonville, Florida. All are welcome. If you would like to join by Zoom, see details below. Topic: Ron Hersom Memorial Service Time: May 29, 2022 02:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) Join Zoom Meeting https://zoom.us/j/98093445583?pwd=VitRV1dCc3Y4QUtIc0pDV0Q1Qk9Wdz09 Meeting ID: 980 9344 5583 Passcode: 464965