Ron Vandervort
Dennis Whitley
Someone who could build their own airplane would have to be good with their hands, mechanically inclined, and possess knowledge of aviation. Ron Vandervort has these qualities and twenty-two years ago built the airplane that he still flies today. Ron’s love of flying started at the age of six when he and his father flew in a friend’s airplane and continues to this day.
Ron grew up in Tomah, Wisconsin and was the third generation to run the family’s dairy farm. As a young man, Ron realized that being a dairy farmer was not his life’s passion and decided to enroll at the University of Wisconsin and study mechanical engineering.
After college and working for Pratt & Whitney Aircraft as a mechanical engineer, Ron realized that working for an aircraft company was not enough to satisfy his “flying bug,” so he bought a plane and took flying lessons. Once Ron completed his lessons and received his instrument rating, he began looking for work as a pilot and found it at Northwest Airlines, where he flew for twenty-seven years.
While visiting a flight attendant friend who bought a home in PebbleCreek, Ron played tennis with the men’s drop-in tennis group at Eagle’s Nest and really enjoyed the experience. Unable to find a rental at PebbleCreek and having to rent elsewhere, Ron decided he needed to get his own place here. Ron credits men’s drop-in tennis and the PebbleCreek Tennis Club as the reason he chose PebbleCreek.
With all of his aviation experience and now owning a second airplane, you might think of Ron as one-dimensional. Well, you would be wrong. Ron has many other interests that include traveling with his wife Carol in their RV, woodcarving, painting, ballroom dancing, yoga, restoring classic cars, and, of course, playing tennis.
As if that weren’t enough to keep him busy, Ron volunteers his time as a docent at the LeMay Auto Museum in Washington during the summer and at the Commemorative Aircraft Museum in Arizona during the winter months.
PebbleCreek is promoted as an active adult community and Ron Vandervort is a perfect example of that active adult lifestyle. That is why Ron is our Tennis Player of the Month.