Ryan passed on 10/26/03. He left a wife, one daughter and one son. I worked with Ryan for over 16 years and spent many afternoons on the golf course with him. He had a fun loving and boisterous personality He enjoyed operating his ham radio, golf and he especially excelled at sporting clays. R.I.P.
(I wrote these thoughts to Ryan's wife Lori the week after he died---I hope she doesn't mind my sharing them. I thought some of you might enjoy reading my memories of him and maybe remind you of some of your own memories of Ryan---Scott)
As a child growing up Ryan was a perfect friend. He was always excited about everything and was never jealous of any good fortune that came to anyone else. He was thoughtful and genuinely fun to be around. When I picture Ryan as I think back on our childhood memories I see him in my mind’s eye with a big grin on his face. Ryan loved life. He was big into everything he tried, and pulled me along into several of his adventures.
Winter Fun Ryan loved winter. He really loved to snowmobile and ride his three and four wheelers in the snow including plowing the family’s driveway. I think Ryan would let 10 snowflakes hit the ground before he’d be out plowing.
I remember how excited he would be for weeks on end before the snow would finally fly. I distinctly remember one day in class when we were maybe in fourth or fifth grade, Ryan jumped up from his desk and ran to the windows right in the middle of the teacher’s lesson because snow was starting to fall outside. Needless to say it was one of the few times I ever remember a teacher getting after him.
I remember riding Ryan’s snowmobile with him over at the west park which was one of the first times I had ever ridden one. My most memorable snowmobiling experience came soon after when Ryan took me for a ride above the freeway on the frontage road. Ryan was trying to show me how fast the machine was compared to the cars on the freeway. I remember being a little nervous---we were’ starting to cruise at a pretty good clip when Ryan failed to notice a small dip like gully. I remember smacking into the opposite side and then while tumbling with white snow all around looking up and seeing Ryan tumbling head over heels in the air above me. Luckily boys and machine were unhurt.
Perhaps the funniest winter memory of Ryan was him telling me a little story about his fight with one of those snow-ball thrower things. I don’t know if you know what I’m talking about but as kids we used to have these plastic snow thrower things that were maybe 30 inches long with a bell shaped end that you’d shove in the snow, form a snowball, and then huck the snowball using this “bat like” device. We used to have “wars” with them using forts we would build using our “iggy” snow block makers. Anyway, one day Ryan was in the back yard with one of these snow throwers and it must have been wet snow he was playing in because the snow got caught in the device and no matter how hard he would swing or flick it wouldn’t come out. In his frustration he started twirling around in a circle and with a mighty fling set the ball of hard packed snow free only to have it hit the picture window in the back of the house and shatter it into pieces. Just then Ryan hears his mom yell “My ____ Kay, Ryan’s got the shot gun!”
Trap Shooting Ryan introduced me to trap shooting and I had a lot of fun shooting with him. Ryan also got me into reloading and we spent a lot of time doing that. I had a 20 gauge shotgun that was my mother’s that I was shooting with. The first time we went all I had were 3” magnums and everyone at the Nephi trap club asked me if I was shooting “Goshen Loads” as they appeared to be strong enough to reach Goshen.
School Bus Ryan and I used to ride the same bus to Jr. High and High School. Ryan’s stop was one of the first on the route so Ryan would save me a seat right behind the heater about half way back. We had a lot of conversations about hunting, school, and etc.
One of my fondest memories of Ryan in High School was an assembly where Ryan was on stage with a microphone that wasn’t working. After playing around with it and trying to get it to work he yelled up to David Patten in the rafters and said “Turn me on, Dave!” To which Dave replied over the microphone he had by him: “I can’t do that Ryan”
Leatherwork and CB radios Ryan was big into both of these hobbies and with his infectious enthusiasm soon had me into them as well. I remember a leather lamp that Ryan made that won a ribbon at the state fair. I don’t know that I’ve ever known anyone who would get into something as quickly and as deeply as Ryan would. He loved to experience new things and pursued them with a passion.
Tischner Ford Ryan started to work at Tischner Ford when we were in High School and like so many of our other adventures soon had me working there with him. Ryan was a good worker who pursued more than the basic things he was asked to do. He saw an opportunity to become a certified safety inspector and pursued and accomplished that goal.
My favorite memory of Ryan at “T-Ford” was the fire phone. Tischner ford was one of a few locations around Santaquin that had the phone for the fire department and during working hours whoever was present would answer the fire phone if someone called in to report a fire and would ring the siren that would call the volunteers to the fire station. This was an exciting thing and Ryan relished it. Now I don’t know if T-Ford is currently configured now as it was then, but it wasn’t the tidiest place of business on the planet and there were always boxes and parts all over the place. Anyway, I was working back in one of the parts bays somewhat near the fire phone one day when I heard the fire phone ring. Ryan was up at the front of the store and I heard him yell “I got it” and then I just kind of stood back for a second and watched the show. Ryan ran from the front of the store and just as he was nearing the fire phone in the narrow hallway he tripped over some parts and I swear he did a front roll with a one and one-half twist and came right up and answered the phone without missing a beat!
Christmas As a kid, Ryan loved Christmas. His excitement could not be contained. If my memory serves me right it seems like there was a Christmas or two where he was up close to 1am to open presents. I remember one year when we were in first or second grade when Ryan got a driving machine that was a steering wheel with gas pedal and a rolling course to drive on. He was so tickled with it. Christmas day we would visit each other’s homes to see “what we got” and play. Like snow, Ryan was completely immersed in the season and really looked forward to Christmas day.
Ryan was a thoughtful giver of gifts. You could tell that he put a lot of thought into the gifts he gave and you knew it was a reflection of his friendship. One in particular that I’ve thought a lot about this week was a very nice Cross pen and pencil set that Ryan gave me before I left on my mission. My mission diary consists of two volumes. Both of them written with the Cross pen Ryan gave me.
Richard Quigley (1980)
Ryan passed on 10/26/03. He left a wife, one daughter and one son. I worked with Ryan for over 16 years and spent many afternoons on the golf course with him. He had a fun loving and boisterous personality He enjoyed operating his ham radio, golf and he especially excelled at sporting clays. R.I.P.Richard Quigley
Scott Olson (1980)
(I wrote these thoughts to Ryan's wife Lori the week after he died---I hope she doesn't mind my sharing them. I thought some of you might enjoy reading my memories of him and maybe remind you of some of your own memories of Ryan---Scott)As a child growing up Ryan was a perfect friend. He was always excited about everything and was never jealous of any good fortune that came to anyone else. He was thoughtful and genuinely fun to be around. When I picture Ryan as I think back on our childhood memories I see him in my mind’s eye with a big grin on his face. Ryan loved life. He was big into everything he tried, and pulled me along into several of his adventures.
Winter Fun
Ryan loved winter. He really loved to snowmobile and ride his three and four wheelers in the snow including plowing the family’s driveway. I think Ryan would let 10 snowflakes hit the ground before he’d be out plowing.
I remember how excited he would be for weeks on end before the snow would finally fly. I distinctly remember one day in class when we were maybe in fourth or fifth grade, Ryan jumped up from his desk and ran to the windows right in the middle of the teacher’s lesson because snow was starting to fall outside. Needless to say it was one of the few times I ever remember a teacher getting after him.
I remember riding Ryan’s snowmobile with him over at the west park which was one of the first times I had ever ridden one. My most memorable snowmobiling experience came soon after when Ryan took me for a ride above the freeway on the frontage road. Ryan was trying to show me how fast the machine was compared to the cars on the freeway. I remember being a little nervous---we were’ starting to cruise at a pretty good clip when Ryan failed to notice a small dip like gully. I remember smacking into the opposite side and then while tumbling with white snow all around looking up and seeing Ryan tumbling head over heels in the air above me. Luckily boys and machine were unhurt.
Perhaps the funniest winter memory of Ryan was him telling me a little story about his fight with one of those snow-ball thrower things. I don’t know if you know what I’m talking about but as kids we used to have these plastic snow thrower things that were maybe 30 inches long with a bell shaped end that you’d shove in the snow, form a snowball, and then huck the snowball using this “bat like” device. We used to have “wars” with them using forts we would build using our “iggy” snow block makers. Anyway, one day Ryan was in the back yard with one of these snow throwers and it must have been wet snow he was playing in because the snow got caught in the device and no matter how hard he would swing or flick it wouldn’t come out. In his frustration he started twirling around in a circle and with a mighty fling set the ball of hard packed snow free only to have it hit the picture window in the back of the house and shatter it into pieces. Just then Ryan hears his mom yell “My ____ Kay, Ryan’s got the shot gun!”
Trap Shooting
Ryan introduced me to trap shooting and I had a lot of fun shooting with him. Ryan also got me into reloading and we spent a lot of time doing that. I had a 20 gauge shotgun that was my mother’s that I was shooting with. The first time we went all I had were 3” magnums and everyone at the Nephi trap club asked me if I was shooting “Goshen Loads” as they appeared to be strong enough to reach Goshen.
School Bus
Ryan and I used to ride the same bus to Jr. High and High School. Ryan’s stop was one of the first on the route so Ryan would save me a seat right behind the heater about half way back. We had a lot of conversations about hunting, school, and etc.
One of my fondest memories of Ryan in High School was an assembly where Ryan was on stage with a microphone that wasn’t working. After playing around with it and trying to get it to work he yelled up to David Patten in the rafters and said “Turn me on, Dave!” To which Dave replied over the microphone he had by him: “I can’t do that Ryan”
Leatherwork and CB radios
Ryan was big into both of these hobbies and with his infectious enthusiasm soon had me into them as well. I remember a leather lamp that Ryan made that won a ribbon at the state fair. I don’t know that I’ve ever known anyone who would get into something as quickly and as deeply as Ryan would. He loved to experience new things and pursued them with a passion.
Tischner Ford
Ryan started to work at Tischner Ford when we were in High School and like so many of our other adventures soon had me working there with him. Ryan was a good worker who pursued more than the basic things he was asked to do. He saw an opportunity to become a certified safety inspector and pursued and accomplished that goal.
My favorite memory of Ryan at “T-Ford” was the fire phone. Tischner ford was one of a few locations around Santaquin that had the phone for the fire department and during working hours whoever was present would answer the fire phone if someone called in to report a fire and would ring the siren that would call the volunteers to the fire station. This was an exciting thing and Ryan relished it. Now I don’t know if T-Ford is currently configured now as it was then, but it wasn’t the tidiest place of business on the planet and there were always boxes and parts all over the place. Anyway, I was working back in one of the parts bays somewhat near the fire phone one day when I heard the fire phone ring. Ryan was up at the front of the store and I heard him yell “I got it” and then I just kind of stood back for a second and watched the show. Ryan ran from the front of the store and just as he was nearing the fire phone in the narrow hallway he tripped over some parts and I swear he did a front roll with a one and one-half twist and came right up and answered the phone without missing a beat!
Christmas
As a kid, Ryan loved Christmas. His excitement could not be contained. If my memory serves me right it seems like there was a Christmas or two where he was up close to 1am to open presents. I remember one year when we were in first or second grade when Ryan got a driving machine that was a steering wheel with gas pedal and a rolling course to drive on. He was so tickled with it. Christmas day we would visit each other’s homes to see “what we got” and play. Like snow, Ryan was completely immersed in the season and really looked forward to Christmas day.
Ryan was a thoughtful giver of gifts. You could tell that he put a lot of thought into the gifts he gave and you knew it was a reflection of his friendship. One in particular that I’ve thought a lot about this week was a very nice Cross pen and pencil set that Ryan gave me before I left on my mission. My mission diary consists of two volumes. Both of them written with the Cross pen Ryan gave me.