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Ronald Ray O'Connell
3/6/1933 - 4/7/2026
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Obituary For Ronald Ray O'Connell
Ronald R. O’Connell, 93, passed away on April 7, 2026 in Rapid City, SD. Ron was born in New Underwood, SD, on March 6, 1933, the eldest of four children. He attended school in Rapid City before moving to Wyoming to live with his grandparents. Ron graduated from high school in Shoshoni, Wyoming in 1951 and went to the University of Wyoming, graduating with a degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1955. He served his country active duty in the U.S. Army and later many years in the South Dakota National Guard.
Returning to Rapid City after the military service, he married Carole Dahl. To this union were born 4 children; Jeffrey, Jill, Jan, and Jonathan. The couple later divorced. Ron married Judy Nichols in 1979 who had 2 children, Jeff and Lisa from her prior marriage.
Ron worked as a Professional Mechanical Engineer in Rapid City for many years making countless friends along the way and retired in 2000 from Dunham Associates, Inc.
In his younger years, he played many rounds of golf and also enjoyed a yearly trek to Eastern SD to pheasant hunt with the same group of friends. In later years he became active at the Canyon Lake Senior Center and volunteering at the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office and local RSVP.
Ron and Judy were blessed to have 45 happy years together and took some nice trips. They had many furry friends who shared their lives, both kittys and dogs, all of them were rescue animals.
Grateful to have shared his life are his children Jeffrey (Nola) O'Connell of Rapid City; Jill (Jay) Tittle, Rapid City; Jan of Phoenix, AZ and Jonathan of Rapid City; Judys children Jeff (Julie) Nichols, Bozeman, MT and Lisa (Mark) Sanders, Hermosa, SD; grandchildren, great grandchildren sisters Sharon (Gary) Popp, Patti (Bruce) Rinder all of rapid City, SD, and many nieces and nephews.
He is preceded in death by his parents, Geneva and Jim O’Connell; his wife Judy; His In-laws, Les and Susan Goodhope; sister Barbara Keene; sister-in-law Dianne Moravec; brother in laws David Keene, William A Goodhope and Jack D Moravec.
Ron was an awesome husband, father, grandparent and friend. He will be dearly missed.
The family will be having a private service and spreading of ashes at a later date.
“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death' or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." Revelations 21:4
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04/19/2026
Hi Dad Ron. You are missed, but I pray that you found salvation and eternity with Jesus in your last years. We spoke of eternity often and you had a perspective on the afterlife that differed from mine, but you were always open to discussing it. You came into our lives at an opportune time. Mom (Judy) needed a man like you who would understand the pain she'd been through in her divorce and love her anyway. Thank you! You blessed her (and me) by providing sacrificial love to her that's rare in this day. I miss our talks and walks together. I miss our shared love of books, although your reading comprehension easily eclipsed mine. I would bring books to you and you would devour a novel in a single day or two! That's what made it so difficult in the last few years when your amazing mind faded from us. My Dad (Phil) worked alongside you at Dunham & Associates and told me that you were the finest engineer he ever worked with. You are sorely missed! I pray that you were able to reconcile that amazing mind with your heart and found the simple message that Jesus shares with us. "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to my Father, but through Me". I love you Dad Ron.
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04/19/2026
Ron, Thank you for your many years of dedicated military service for our country! Very honorable of you. Prayers from Iowa!
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04/14/2026
Dear Dad, I was privileged to be able to share time and memories with you before dementia took you from me. I wish we had more time, but it wasn't meant to be. I will cherish the time we spent together and find comfort in those memories. I miss you so much!! I love you.
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04/11/2026
Sending prayers to family and loved ones who knew him sweet soul always cheerful
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