Ronald W Warden

Ron will be remembered as a compassionate, caring, and loving man. He was one who made great sacrifices for his family, whom he treasured. He loved people, comfortably striking up conversations with friends and strangers alike. Ron will also be remembered as an educator, greatly committed to the success of students, challenging and helping each to do their very best and achieve their goals; an academic that sought opportunities to share information and engage in intellectual and stimulating conversations; a storyteller willing to impart his life experiences and knowledge in a well crafted narrative; a gardener who was passionate about flowers and plants, creating beautiful and welcoming settings for his family, friends, neighbors, birds, and wildlife alike; a photographer and lover of music; a Denver Broncos fan who on occasion wore unorthodox attire in support of his team; an athlete who played baseball and hockey, a coach; a would-be pilot with an encyclopedic knowledge of airplanes, airlines, and airports; someone who loved being on or near water and spending summers along the seacoast of New Hampshire; an admirer of Colorado and its stunning beauty, a lover of Liberia West Africa, so ordinary to him in his youth, yet exotic and wild.

Ron was born January 16, 1940 in Lakewood, Ohio to Harriet Kittle Buswell and William George Buswell. Ron’s mother Harriet remarried in 1944 to Ralph Park Warden who was employed by the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company in Harbel, Liberia, West Africa. Soon after wedding Harriet, Ralph returned to Liberia and Ron and his mother split their time living with family in Lakewood, Ohio and Scranton, Pennsylvania. By early 1945, Harriet and Ron joined Ron’s adoptive father Ralph, in Liberia. Ron spent the next seven years in Africa before leaving his parents and returning to the states to attend boarding school in New Hampshire. There he attended Cardigan Mountain School in Canaan where he would meet his future wife Shirley and her parents Wilfred W. and Gladys G. Clark, the school’s headmaster and headmistress. After graduating from Cardigan, Ron attended Proctor Academy in Andover, New Hampshire where he completed his freshmen and sophomore years. He accepted an invitation by the Clarks to move with them to Waltham, Massachusetts where Mr. Clark accepted the position of headmaster of the Chapel Hills School (presently Chapel Hills –Chauncey Hall School). Ron continued his education and graduated from Waltham High School in 1958. While working his way through college and pursuing a B.S. in political science with a minor in education at Cambridge College, Boston University and later Suffolk University in Boston, Massachusetts, Ron worked as an assistant buyer at Grover Cronin’s Department Store in Waltham. In the spring of 1961 Ron married Shirley A. Clark, his wife of 53 years. Ron and Shirley had two sons while in Waltham, Benjamin R. Warden in 1961 and Christopher C. Warden in 1964. Both Ron and Shirley were employed by the Chapel Hills School before relocating to Waterbury, Connecticut in 1968. It was at Chapel Hills School where Ron found his calling in education, teaching geography and math and later becoming the school’s librarian. Ron continued in library science at Saint Margaret’s School (presently Chase Collegiate School) as the school’s head librarian until 1972. In August of that year Ron moved his family west to Fountain Valley School of Colorado in Colorado Springs. There he was the head librarian for thirteen years. In 1985 he and Shirley moved to Bloomfield Hills, Michigan where Ron worked as a librarian for the Cranbrook Schools until the summer of 1994. Returning to the place they called “home”, and where the family had summered for decades, Ron and Shirley moved and settled in Exeter, New Hampshire. There Ron worked for Filene’s Department Store in Newington, New Hampshire and Polo Ralph Lauren in Kittery, Maine. In 2001 Ron and Shirley returned to Colorado Springs to be closer to their children and grandchildren. After returning to Colorado, Ron went to work for Dillard’s Department Store and later returned to work for Polo Ralph Lauren, this time in Castle Rock, Colorado. In 2009 Ron retired and turned his energy and attention to his wife, family, friends, and gardens.

Ron is preceded in death by his parents; wife, Shirley C. Warden; and brother, Carl D. Warden. He is survived by his son, Benjamin R. Warden; daughter-in-law, Dawn M. Warden; granddaughter, Jessica N. Jones and her husband Colton P. Jones; and great-granddaughters, Alena R. Jones and Lila M. Jones; all of Colorado Springs; granddaughter, Leah D. Gallur, her husband, Joe A. Gallur, and great-grandson, Joe A. Gallur Jr. and great-granddaughter, Aaliyah B. Gallur of San Antonio, Texas; son, Christopher C. Warden, daughter-in-law, Teresa J. Warden, granddaughter Mackenzie C. Warden, and grandson Westen R. Warden of Loveland, Colorado; brother, Paul J. Warden and his wife Linda Warden of Mechanicsville, Virginia; sister Mona J. Stevens of Athens, Georgia; stepmother, Marianne Z. Buswell and brother, Andrew M. Buswell, both of Parma, Ohio.