

Welcome to Ron's memorial website where you can find information about his life and our celebration service.
We are gathering anecdotes about Ron that illustrate just who he was. Some of these will be shared at his service. We welcome serious ones as well as those that are humorous. Please click on the "Memory Wall" to share an experience you've had with him and add a photo if you wish. You also can share pictures in the "Gallery".
Obituary
Ronald George Stretter, 78, of Mansfield, MA, passed away on Friday, November 22, 2024. Born in Fort Collins, CO, to Ronald L. and Wanda (Saturley) Stretter, Ron grew up with his younger brother Bob in northern California, where he attended Mountain View Academy. Ron graduated from Pacific Union College, where he met his wife of 56 years, Donna Jean Greer. Ron’s life was built around faith and family. His family remember him above all as a loving husband, father, and grandfather. After Ron and Donna married in 1968, sons Robert Eugene and Jonathan Roy joined the family. Ron had a special, life-long relationship with Jonathan, whose disabilities kept him living at home. After relocating to New England to be closer to son Rob and daughter-in-law Elizabeth Bridgham of Janesville, WI, Ron was thrilled by the arrival of his two grandsons, Benjamin and Henry, whose regular visits were a highlight of his final years.
Ron’s Christian faith provided both personal comfort and a vocation throughout his life. After studying religion in college, Ron attended seminary at Andrews University in Michigan before embarking on a four-decade career as a Seventh-Day Adventist minister, working in California, Ohio, and Maryland, before returning to California and settling in the Napa Valley. Having loved his time as a counselor at Camp Wawona in Yosemite National Park during college, it is no surprise that part of Ron’s early career consisted of running summer camps for young people. In later years, combining a passion for youth ministry and a love of travel, Ron led dozens of short-term mission trips, building churches and schools around the world. Many of these trips were with Maranatha Flights International, a service organization dear to his heart and on whose board he served for many years. Ron also served the church as Youth Director for the Ohio and the Northern California Conferences, as well as Director of Youth and Family Ministries for the Columbia Union. He was involved in the design and production of several major “camporees” for Adventist young people in the Pathfinder program, including serving as the director of the 1989 Friendship Camporee. Everyone who knew Ron marveled at his gifts for organization, planning, and team-building. Whether in the role of a church pastor, a summer camp director, an administrator, or a Pathfinder leader, Ron’s love and respect for others was evident.
Ron had a mischievous sense of humor, sometimes to the consternation of his eldest son. His long-running and good-natured “feud” with his sister-in-law, Sharon Millard, led to many laughs. Sharon likes to say that Ron “gave her fits,” as they teased each other over the years. A man of many interests, Ron enjoyed woodworking and carpentry, hiking and camping, rock climbing, snow skiing and waterskiing, and the comedy of Garrison Keillor. Travel was also a life-long source of pleasure. A fan of the travel writer Rick Steves, Ron introduced his family to the world with trips to Europe, Central America, and the Caribbean, as well as all across the US and Canada. He seemed to enjoy planning trips as much as the trips themselves! Ron’s travels also gave him opportunities to pursue a favorite hobby, collecting pins for trading and display.
Ron is survived by his wife, Donna; his children Robert and Jonathan Stretter; his daughter-in-law Elizabeth Bridgham; his grandchildren Benjamin and Henry Stretter-Bridgham; his sisters-in-law Karen (Martin) Stretter and Sharon (Greer) Millard; brother-in-law Ken Millard; and nephews and nieces Chris Stretter, Stacey (Stretter) Vargas, and David and Kathryn Millard. He was preceded in death by his brother Robert (Bob) Stretter.
A memorial service celebrating Ron’s life will be held at 2:00 p.m. EST on Sunday, December 15, 2024 at the Foxboro Seventh-Day Adventist Church (308 Central St., Foxborough, MA). The service will be streamed here: https://www.youtube.com/@foxborosdachurch/streams
In lieu of flowers, memorials in Ron’s name may be made to the NBIA Disorders Association (nbiadisorders.org) to support research into the disease with which his son Jonathan lives.
Streaming Information
Ron's service was live streamed from the Foxboro SDA Church's You Tube channel. Here is the link where you can still watch it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_WO8b_Yh74&t=18s
Gallery




























Memorial Slideshow and Pathfinder Videos
Memory wall
Mail-time each day was a contest to see who had receive a prized letter - from Donna to Ron, or Bryan to me?
June 9, 1968, at PUC was a full day of graduation in the morning and marriage in the afternoon for Ron & Donna - another evidence of planning prowess! Bryan and I wed 2 days later, each couple being part of the other’s service. Even our honeymoons overlapped in Yosemite.
Our work paths diverged from there, coming together in the DC area years later. A happy coincidence occurred as their oldest son Rob and our son Brandon became close friends, thru PUC and up to this day as family men.
Ron’s humor, optimism, love for family, leadership skills and adventurous spirit will be cherished by all who were privileged to know him.
Even with his busy schedule he always made a point when he was in Southern California to come and visit me in my dorm room at La Sierra. He entrusted to my brother Kevin and myself all his well organized notebooks of information from each year he was director at Mohaven. Such wonderful memories
I could share a whole book worth of funny stories . Maybe I will write that book. So thankful for God's promises that we will meet up again that glorious day.
My first meeting with Ron was in the days of church Ministries. He was the Youth Director in Columbia Union and I had just agreed to accept a call to do Children’s Ministries. The most memorable time of my work life had began. Ron was a leader who knew how to make others leaders by challenging them and then supporting them as they grew. He gave me a number of assignments (like the children’s fun tent) when I had never even been to a camporee! When I tried to get him to tell me what to do, he asked what my job was. When I told him children’s Ministries, his answer was, “you’ll figure it out. I have confidence in you—and I did. If I had a specific question, he always helped me find the solution but he rarely ever told me what or how to do it. He used to tease me that if he ever accepted a call somewhere else, I would become the next Youth Leader for Columbia Union. I laughed loudly about that possibility. When Ron accepted a call to the west Coast—guess what. I was given the Youth Director job.
Ron had a great skill in choosing people to do a job and then enabling them to do it. He was never picky or pushy and very affirming. We had fun but we worked together and with Jim Clements got the job done. I have had the opportunity to work under or work with many excellent church leaders in my years of working for the church. Ron was one of the best. He was gifted in knowing how to grow leaders to be the best they could be.
He was such a kind and thoughtful listener.
Such an encourager.
I know his family will miss him greatly but his memories will always follow him and be a great tribute to a life well lived.
Mountain View Academy, Class of 1964
Mountain View Academy, Class of 1964
Even more special, however, is the fact that on the day of Pastor Stretter’s memorial service, December 15, it will be exactly 33 years since he pronounced my then-fiancé and me “husband and wife!” His type of premarital counseling for us was unconventional. He invited us to spend several days with him and his wife in their home in Angwin, CA. Aside from receiving wise counsel, we were allowed to just be us while with godly eyes he observed. His kind words, loving smile, and warm chuckles are remembered. My husband particularly remembers Pastor Stretter’s joke about how to get peanut butter off the roof of your mouth.
Please remember, this old sinful world is not our home. Let’s all plan to meet together in our heavenly home!!
Most of us know Ron's multiple and very impressive talents but during my first year at PUC I was privileged to see another side of Ron. As fellow pastors of the PUC church we used to meet on Thursday mornings for an undisrupted where nobody would find us—the bride's room, of all places! During that hour we shared with each other from our hearts. No agenda (hard for Ron) but talking, supporting, praying and caring. We grew close during these hours and we became a team that deeply cared for each other. Thank you Ron for showing your heart, for being my big brother, and for looking our for me.
God used Ron to guide me into conference Youth Ministry and eventually college chaplaincy. He taught me why organization is key to ministry and the essential role of recruiting, training and equipping a team - members who sometimes become life friends. Ron freely shared his love for Donna, Rob and Jonathan. I wish I could have seen him as grandpa.
Ron impacted my life calling more than any other person. I look forward to catching up with him in eternity.
Memorial Service
308 Central St., Foxborough, MA 02035