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On the outside, he was a no-nonsense, get-it-done kind of man.
But once you got to know him, Ron Weers had a heart of gold, giving generously throughout his life to customers, employees, the city and several community projects he believed in.
 Weers, 64, died Dec. 2, leaving behind a legacy of being Louisburg’s anonymous donor and one of the most knowledgeable men in the construction business.
More than 1,000 people came to Weers’ visitation, and between 300 and 400 attended the funeral last week, the most Louisburg United Methodist Church has ever seen.
Family manWeers’ heart was in Louisburg. Born March 2, 1944, in Louisburg, Weers was a 1961 graduate of Louisburg High School and lived in the community his entire life. He married Dixie Kloefkorn in 1971, and they had two children, Heather Burch and Ryan Weers.
“He was very proud of his family, his children,” said Nate Apple, Weers’ close friend.
One of Burch’s favorite memories of her father, she said, is from playing basketball her senior year of high school.
“The very last game we had, we lost, and I was devastated,” Burch said. “I thought it was the last time I was ever going to play basketball. Dad came out and told me I’d left it all on the floor and how proud of me he was. If you know my dad, compliments are sometimes hard to come by from him. When you got one, it meant a lot.”
Weers served in the National Guard as a Staff Sgt. in the Vietnam War, receiving a Bronze Star for his service.
“He was a veteran, and he was in the Vietnam war,” said Wayne Knop. “He never talked about it, but he was really dedicated to the veteran deal.”
From the ground up Weers started Ron Weers Construction in 1972 with one piece of equipment he purchased from Lester Wood.
“Little by little, he was able to buy another piece of equipment and hire a few personnel,” Burch said. “And it continued to grow into what he has now. He could’ve grown it more, but he always wanted to keep it the size where he could keep a close eye on it all.”
Wayne Knop was one the company’s of first employees.
“He was a great boss and always helped us,” Knop said. “He was pretty rough, but after quitting time, he could be your friend.”
Through hard work, dedication and a little grit, Weers built his construction company into a respected establishment in Miami County.
In the 1970s, when part of downtown Louisburg burned, Weers was there, helping clean the rubble. And when it snowed so much the city’s crews couldn’t handle all of the snow removal, he was there, making sure residents would have clean streets to drive on.
“He was given nothing and made such a great business and such a respected business,” Burch said. “Ryan and I have big shoes to fill in that regard.”
The quality that made Weers so successful, Louisburg Mayor Arlen Thompson said, was his dedication to doing things right and not taking short-cuts.
“Ronnie never cut a project short, even if it cost him money,” Thompson said.
Innate knowledgeThe other quality that made Weers so successful was his natural ability to see the best path for a project, several of his colleagues said.
“He’s learned it all in the field,” Burch said. “I’ve heard him tell an engineer a time or two his plans wouldn’t work, and by the end of the project, they’d be back to what Dad said.”
The Rev. Donna Voteau, pastor of the Methodist Church, said Weers’ instinct saved the church thousands in construction costs. Weers saw the plans engineers had submitted for the church’s new building and told them it wasn’t going to work.
Voteau said he looked at the land, chose the highest spot and worked through issues to help the church get the building process under way.
“He found a way to do this job the most economical way and give the church the most benefit,” Voteau said.
And Thompson said Weers worked with the city on its projects to repave South Fifth Street East to get the project done before school started last summer.
“When it came to projects, we’d always kind of bounce things off of Ronnie, whether he got the project or not,” Thompson said.
As friends and coworkers said, the more difficult the project, the better.
“He was always up for a challenge. If there was something that couldn’t be done, he could do it,” Knop said.
Giving heartWhat people remember most about Weers was his giving nature. He often went without billing customers he thought were in need, donated time and materials to community projects such as Lewis-Young Park, and gave donations to worthy causes.
“When he got the chamber award, I learned a lot about my dad I never knew,” Burch said. “I always knew he helped people out, but I had no idea he never billed for so many things.”
Weers was honored with the Louisburg Chamber of Commerce’s annual appreciation award in November for his work throughout the community.
Though he had a big heart and found joy in helping others, he didn’t want many to know about it.
“He had a heart bigger than him, but he didn’t want anybody to know that,” Apple said.
Story after story has emerged about Weers’ giving nature, often in instances very few knew about.
“He would never ask for recognition. There are things that Ronnie did that no one will ever know because its only known between him and the person he did it for,” Thompson said.
Weers’ word was as good as gold to everyone who worked with him, Burch said, and that good nature isn’t found too often anymore.
“He was the epitome of what I think Louisburg should strive to be,” Thompson said. “I’m going to miss Ron. He was gruff on the outside, but he had a big heart.”
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