Ronald Savey

Ron Savey, age 80, died peacefully on May 27, 2018 at Hospice House in Bellingham, WA surrounded by his loving family, after a January diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. Ron was born on March 27, 1938 to Donald and Arlene Savey in Rapid City, SD. His family moved to Colorado in 1947 and he graduated from Littleton High School in 1956, where he played football and was a state wrestling champion. Deciding to serve his military obligation before college, he joined the US Marine Corps where he rose to the rank of corporal in a tank battalion stationed at Camp Pendleton in California.

While pursuing his degree in accounting at Western State College of Colorado, he spent two summers working in a permafrost tunnel in Greenland and a summer working in a lead and zinc mine in Gilman, Colorado. It was at Western State where he met his wife Virginia (Toffoli) and they were married shortly after graduation on June 16, 1962 in Pueblo, CO.

Ron began his career as an accountant for Texaco before earning his MBA in accounting from the University of Denver in 1964. His first teaching job was at Casper College in Casper, WY from 1964 to 1970, and during this time, his two children were born. Upon receiving his CPA, he accepted a job in public accounting with Harris Kerr Forster in Denver, CO. Following his adventurist spirit, he moved his family to Wellington, New Zealand for his next teaching job at Victoria University. Back in Colorado, Ron returned to work at Harris Kerr Forster and later worked in private accounting for the United Way of Denver. In 1976, Ron accepted his final teaching job in the accounting department at WWU in Bellingham, WA where he also served as department chairman for 11 years before retiring in 2000. Ron received the WWU Dept of Accounting Moss Adams Faculty Achievement Award in 1992 and the Dean's Research Award for Distinguished Contribution in Published Research in 1998. He was also honored by the Accounting Society in 1990 and the WWU Beta Alpha Psi and Accounting Society in 2000 for his many contributions to the accounting department.

Ron loved the outdoors, from mountain climbing in the Colorado Rockies, to sailing in the San Juans, to competing as a cyclist in the annual Ski to Sea Race. Having overcome polio as a child, he always relished a physical challenge. In retirement, he developed a passion for wildlife photography. Whether capturing shots of birds in his backyard bird sanctuary, volunteering as an eagle watching guide in Skagit County, or photographing bison in Lamar Valley at Yellowstone, he was content behind the lens of his camera. Ron’s interests were wide and he read extensively in history, mountain climbing, adventure, American Indians and his beloved American west and great plains. He had a lifelong interest in Indian lore and spent time looking for arrowheads and visiting Native American landmarks. In his spare time, he enjoyed watching the Seattle Mariners and the Denver Broncos.

Ron will be remembered for his honesty, sense of humor, kindness, generosity, and his devotion to his family. He is survived by his loving wife of 56 years, Virginia, son Craig (Michelle) Savey, daughter Shauna Pearson, sister Carol (John) Abel, brother-in-law Larry (Carol) Toffoli and numerous nieces and nephews and other extended family. When joined by Virginia, their ashes will be scattered together at one of their favorite spots in the American west.

“For West is where we all plan to go someday … It is where you go to spend your old age. Or it is just where you go.” -Robert Penn Warren

Donations in Ron’s memory may be made to his favorite charity, the Trumpeter Swan Society (www.trumpeterswansociety.org), or to Whatcom Hospice Foundation (www.whatcomhospice.org).