LUCAS — Local residents will never forget Ron Simon. Or his writing.
A fundraiser to replace a bench on top of Mount Jeez in honor of Simon, the late Mansfield News Journal reporter/columnist, has already reached its $1,500 goal.
Simon, who died in 2016, loved going to Mount Jeez, enjoying the peace and quiet, as well as the view from atop the hill that overlooks Malabar Farm State Park.
After his death, former co-workers and friends quickly raised $1,500 for a bench in his memory at the top of the hill.
Sadly, vandals recently damaged the bench beyond repair, breaking it and tossing pieces of it down the hill.
Undaunted, the same people who organized the original fundraiser launched a campaign about two weeks ago to replace the bench. Bo Thompson, of Thompson Memorials in Perrysville, who did the original bench at a discount, has agreed to do the work again.
Retired News Journal Publisher/Editor Tom Brennan announced Monday the goal had already been met and surpassed.
“We are thrilled with the number of people who responded, both in terms of the number of people responding and how quickly,” Brennan said. “It’s a tribute to what people thought about Ron Simon.”
Dave Crawford of the Malabar Farm Foundation, who met Simon back in the mid 1980s, said Monday that $1,765 had been donated as of today with perhaps more to come.
“We are working with the park manager and the (ODNR) folks in Columbus to use the surplus to enhance security for Mount Jeez in hopes of minimizing the chance something like this (vandalism) from happening again,” Crawford said.
Mount Jeez will be closed during the winter months and Crawford said the replacement bench will likely be installed in the spring.
He said the foundation had received about two dozen donations, with amounts ranging from $5 to $500.
Many of the donation letters included notes, one of which said it was from Simon’s Shelby High School classmates in the Class of 1959.
Many donors wrote how much they loved Simon’s writing
“I am so happy to be a part of this. How I miss reading Ron’s articles in the News Journal. He can never be forgotten,” one donor wrote.
Another donor recalled Simon doing an interview with his father.
“He did a story on my father, who was a World War II veteran. He deserves much credit, not only for his stories, but for his (own) service,” the donor wrote about Simon, a Vietnam War veteran in the U.S. Army.
Crawford looks forward to putting the memorial to his friend back in place.
“Mount Jeez was Ron’s favorite place in the whole wide world,” Crawford said.
