Ronald Vandiver greatly influenced my life after I met him on my retiring from the US Air Force and settling in Habersham County, Georgia.
While I knew of him before then I did not know him personally. His roots go back to ancestors who settled near the Tallulah Gorge when it was still Cherokee land. As a youth, working with his father building houses, Ron began traveling in the American west, Canada and Alaska.
In middle age Ron finished college and earned a Master’s Degree in Public Administration. His great passion was history, both that of families and of our nation and the world. Reflecting his broad interests was a large room in his home with walls lined with hundreds of books. Ron became my friend when he served as Manager of Habersham County. Georgia.
In his middle age Ron accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as his savior, which transformed his life. He told me of a health crisis involving his daughter, which led him to pray to God for healing. Then he felt a dynamic power flow into his body from God and she was healed! God’s presence was real and he gave his life to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. He told me then whatever happens he was prepared to die but would live as long as God permitted him to do so. Although he was struck with cancer he continued work at Habersham Electric Membership Corporation.
Intensely interested in history, Ron’s spirit was intimately connected to his pioneer forebears and Cherokee ancestry. I was drawn to him as I feel the same way. Once he and I hiked back into the area of Sinking Mountain on the Chattooga River to see the foundations of a home of a pioneer named Justus that I had not heard about.
My greatest pleasure in being Ron’s friend came on two great journeys to his favorite town, Dubois, Wyoming, in the upper Wind River area. Here he had spent many years and knew descendants of the early pioneers. On the two trips we camped, hiked, fished, and visited all around that area, especially in the Absaroka Mountains at Double Cabins Campground 24 miles north of Dubois and in the Wind River Mountains off Union Pass Road, a historic route traveled by buffalo, Indians, explorers, trappers, and modern day travelers.
A friend of Ron’s, now deceased, ran the Black Bear Motel in Dubois, where Ron and I shared a room while in town. At dawn we would walk up the street to eat a hearty breakfast at the Village Café, while watching the rising sun’s rays inch down the mountain sides and listening to other nearby diners. We also toured the local museum featuring local history of the area.
Ron had purchased considerable land near Dubois. More than once he mentioned a desire to have a second home on the Wind River below Dubois. We visited his friends, a retired rancher and outfitter and wife. I enjoyed hearing them talk of the old days when Dubois was remote and outlaws like Butch Cassidy would come to hide after robbing a bank or train.
On traveling west on the two trips Ron took our group by many historical spots where we made brief stops and learned something of their history. I was amazed at his memory of details and the broad sweep of his knowledge. Along with many loved ones and friends I miss Ronald Vandiver. I lost both a true friend and a living source of knowledge concerning our marvelous country and its history.
