Ronald Richard Kinkaid

WEAVERVILLE – Ronald Richard Kinkaid, age 84, left this world peacefully from Care Partners Solace Hospice Center on Saturday, December 16, 2023, after a brief but intense battle with a blood infection.

Ron was born and raised in Philadelphia by working parents and his maternal grandmother, and he was an excellent student. With the Vietnam War approaching, he enlisted in the Navy as soon as he could, and was assigned to Los Alamitos Naval Air Station near present-day Disneyland.

Through civilian friends, Ron was introduced to the California title insurance industry, which performs all real estate title searches, escrow accounting and closings (there are no attorneys directly involved). He worked his way up, first at Safeco Title, eventually becoming a corporate trouble shooter, reforming under-performing offices throughout California, drafting management policies and procedures for “home office,” and conducting numerous presentations for the industry. He especially enjoyed teaching escrow procedures at San Joaquin Delta Community College and the crab feeds and pool tournaments at the Yosemite Club in Stockton, the oldest mens’ club west of the Mississippi.

After working in the Bank of Stockton Trust Department during a break from the title business, he was recruited by Commonwealth Land Title to run their San Francisco office. He was awarded a President’s Club Star Performance plaque, and continued to progress. Ultimately, he was overseeing individual offices throughout the state of California and parts of the Pacific Northwest, and was responsible for the performance of approximately 6,000 employees.

When he and Michele M. Larson married on the Big Island of Hawaii, the two workaholics who had been devoted to their careers left employment and embarked on what became an extraordinary marriage, based on mutual respect and undeniable chemistry. Upon moving to Punta Gorda, Florida to supervise Ron’s aging, widowed mother, they discovered the outdoors – sailing the surrounding Gulf in their boat and traveling most of the country in their RV. When it kept bringing them back to Asheville, they settled into landscaping and parenting hunting dogs. Rarely apart, they continued to make the most of each other’s company until the very end.

Our experiences together have and will continue to comfort me, along with the incredible support of my oldest son and his wife, who has lost both of her parents; the loving concern of my two younger sons; the invaluable friendship of Pat Hunt; welcome insight from my former husband, a geriatric psychiatrist; fine care from Dr. Furmu and other physicians and nurses at Mission Hospital; needed advice from Libby Lewis at Mountain Area Premier Health Care Navigators; and Jon Felsinger of Compassionate Care Palliative and hospice care counselors. If you find yourself caring for a failing loved one, I cannot recommend highly enough the care navigators and care counselors for their compassionate knowledge of the local health care system.

As I have been blessed with grace throughout this time, I wish the same for you in this joyous season.  -Michele

West Family Funeral Services is honored to be serving Ron’s family. Condolences may be offered under Ron’s obituary at www.WestFamilyFuneralServices.com.