Ronald C. Sedenquist

Ronald C Sedenquist, age 90, of Escanaba (Pine Ridge), passed away early Friday evening, September 23, 2022 at OSF St Francis Hospital in Escanaba. Ronald was born on April 11, 1932 to Charles A Sedenquist and Helen M (Bruyere). Ron was raised on the Sedenquist family dairy farm in Pine Ridge where he worked many a summer with his cousin and lifelong friend, Ray Richards.

Ronald enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1951 and worked on an air crew stationed out of Moffet Field NAS in California. Ron loved flying and his Naval service travels took him throughout the Pacific often making stops in Hawaii and Japan. While in Japan he met his future bride, Ayako (Peggy) Yamaguchi in Tokyo, Japan in 1953. Ronald married Peggy on June 28, 1954 and they returned to the family farm where they raised their 3 sons; Richard, Michael (Susan), and John.

In 1963, Ronald began construction of the new family home just down the road from the farm. Ronald built his home from timber cut from the family property and lumber sawed and planed at the family sawmill on the farm. Ronald would often take Richard and Michael with him when he cut timber in the woods. He would give his boys a bag of roasted peanuts with instructions to “go home and tell mother if anything bad happens!”

Ronald began his working career at Mead Paper starting as a block piler on Aug 15, 1956 and worked his way up to Electrical Foreman in #1 Mill, retiring in 1992.

Ronald pursued his passion for flying by buying a Cessna 150 and earned his private pilot’s license. Ron loved flying his friends all over the UP taking them up over their camps and property. Ronald upgraded to a Cessna 172 and he and Peggy embarked on a cross-country trip flying to Petaluma, CA and back in 1995.Ronald’s passion for flying took him to the EAA Annual Fly-in in Oshkosh, WI. Ron and Peggy would fly to the EAA convention where Peggy would volunteer as an interpreter at the EAA International Tent. Ron was an EAA member for 41 years.

After Ronald’s flying career ended, he began his new found passion…logging! Ron began cutting on the heavily timbered 6 forties he owned in Pine Ridge. He soon discovered that the little farm tractor wasn’t enough so he bought a used skidder to haul his wood to the landing. Ronald soon upgraded to a new Valmet 544 skidder to haul the hundreds of cords of wood he cut by himself. Ron also built roads with his Komatsu bulldozer. In addition to the harvesting of timber, Ronald and his son Richard re-planted dozens of acres with seedlings from Mead Paper.

Ronald is survived by his wife, Peggy; their 3 sons, Richard, Michael, and John; grandchildren, Rebecca, Andrew, Tamara (William) Wood, Michael (Tasha), Matthew, and Christopher (Katie); great-grandchildren, Liam and Weston; and cousin and lifelong friend, Ray (Betty) Richards.

Ronald was preceded in death by his parents, Charles and Helen; brother, Gary; nephew, Ricky; and sister, Carol.

The Sedenquist Family would like to extend a sincere thank you to the wonderful nurses and staff of OSF St. Francis Hospital Emergency Dept, Special Care Unit and 2 South. Your wonderful and compassionate care was greatly appreciated!

Military Honors will be conducted at 2:00 p.m., Friday, September 30, 2022 by the Delta County Veterans Council at the Gardens of Rest Cemetery in Wells with burial to follow. 

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