
Today Ronald Waldron is going fishing. Just like he used to every day, back before he got sick, gave his boat away and moved into the Naples Manor Care of Lakewood nursing home on U.S. 41 East.
Ronald Waldron is going fishing. Once more will he feel the sway of the boat on the rolling Gulf and feel the spray and wind on his face.
Once more will he cast his line to the wind, look into the dark depths and wait to see what the world bring him.
The day is a gift. From the staff at his nursing home who want only to reward a 76-year-old man they recently learned spent his retiring years and dollars on the wants and needs of children in the Everglades.
So three Manor Care employees get up early one weekday morning and drive Waldron to Marco Island, where Jody Weis and his 31-foot charter boat, the Weis Guy, are waiting.
Jody has drinks in the coolers, rods in the back, and empty wells waiting to be filled.
Onboard, the mooring lines retrieved and all of us seated, the captain starts the engine and backs out of the boatslip, chugging out of the harbor as the yellow ball of sun slips from starboard to stern.
Ron, as his friends and caregivers call him, raises a hand to point
toward a sailboat anchored sleepily in the bay, silent and still on
this bright, new morning.
Photo Gallery
A fishing tale
Manor Care employees Damian Baez and Dee Harris help Ronald Waldron,
center, off a charter boat following a morning fishing trip at Marco
River Marina. Waldron, who’s 76, created the Needy Kids of the
Everglades Fund and over the years helped provide assistance to
hundreds of children in the Everglades area.
Melanie Peeples




