Obituary of Ronald Roger Burch | The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Ronald (Ron) Roger Burch passed away on May 26, 2024, surrounded by his loving family, in Little Rock, Ark., at the age of 80. Ron was born in Chicago, Ill., on October 11, 1943, and moved with his family to Arkadelphia, Ark., in 1945, where he spent his early years. After graduating from high school in 1962, he attended Henderson State University, where he was a member of Theta Xi fraternity. There he met the love of his life, Darlene Harris of Hot Springs. They were married the summer before their senior year, on August 20, 1966, and graduated together at the end of the spring semester of 1967. While in college, Ron participated in the Advanced Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) program and after Upon graduation, he was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Army, Combat Branch of the Corps of Engineers. After attending and graduating from the US Army Engineer School at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, he served in Germany and Vietnam. He completed his active duty obligation after serving as a company commander at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., with the rank of captain. In 1971, Ron began working at Arkansas Legislative Audit in the State Capitol Building. He had the opportunity to work on a wide variety of audit assignments in various government units. In 1988, he was chosen to fill the position of deputy legislative accountant, responsible for the audits of state agencies. Over the course of his career, he has served as a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, Association of Government Accountants and Southwestern Intergovernmental Audit Forum. After a career of 37 years, he retired on June 30, 2008. Ron and Darlene enjoyed vacation travel and had the opportunity to visit 48 states, including Alaska and Hawaii, and many of the United States National Parks. After their retirement they traveled to many international locations on the seven continents. Ron made a hobby of cataloging digital copies of their extensive photographs and travel memories, as well as researching and documenting information about the ancestors’ heritage. Ron was predeceased by Darlene, his beloved wife of 57 years, and his parents, Dennis W. and Cecelia P. Burch. He is survived by his son Ron, Jr. (Kathleen) behind; daughter Melissa (Matthew); and four grandsons, Collin, Nathan, Jackson and Michael. A funeral service will be held at Pinnacle Church of Christ on Friday, May 31, 2024 at 1:30 PM, with family visitation beginning at 12:30 PM. Private burial will be at Forest Hills Cemetery, 10201 AR Hwy 5, Alexander. . In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to Arkansas Children’s Hospital.

Published on May 29, 2024