Ron West adored by friends, family, golf buddies
Dwight Crowe recalled a story told by his friend, Ron West, about serving with the U.S. Army in the Vietnamese jungle and alongside his brigade members fearing that Viet Cong soldiers were hiding in a veil of thick foliage ahead planning to ambush advancing American soldiers.
Upon an order by West’s superior, a truck arrived and sprayed a substance on trees that instantly killed the leaves and anything else that was green in a huge area.
While the chemical known as Agent Orange successfully revealed any potential attackers in the forest, it also caused West to suffer through two bouts of cancer later in life.
West, who owned and operated the West Agency in Butler Township, died Monday from the latest cancer diagnosis.
“He worked up to the day he died,” Crowe said of West’s insurance and real estate agency on New Castle Road. “That was his little kingdom, and, bless him, he kept it well.”
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