Obituary of Ronald Zelinkoff

Ronald Eugene Zelinkoff, Aurora; Father of Penni Zelinkoff and the late Kenneth A. William Zelinkoff; Brother of Phyllis Hart; Also survived by many relatives and friends; Graveside, Sunday, 11:00am, Rose Hill Cemetery; Contributions to AuroraWarmstheNight.org. Ron Zelinkoff Eulogy (1943-2018) Ronald Eugene “Ronnie” Zelinkoff was born in Denver on January 16, 1943. He was the son of Mollie and William Zelinkoff, and the grandson of Rabbi Benjamin Zelinkoff He was the youngest child in the family, brother to Phyllis Zelinkoff Hart, who was 5 years older, and to Morris Hein, 20 years older than Ron. Morris chose Ron’s name. He wanted Ron to have an “American name,” so he suggested to his mother they name him Ronald Eugene. The family lived in the West Side of Denver and later relocated to the East Side, near Colorado Blvd. Because of the age difference between Ron and Morris, he grew up being very close to Morris’ children Leslye and Steve. In fact, Leslye used to tell everyone how she had an uncle that was just two years older. Sister Phyllis, being 5 years older, became the ringleader to Ron, and Leslye, and baby Steve. The children would play in the basement of Mollie’s home, and go every week to the Saturday morning matinees at the Bluebird Theater. Ron graduated from East High School and went on to study accounting at the University of Denver, graduating in 1964. He became a CPA, and worked for 5 years at GM in Pontiac, Michigan. He then served for three years with the U.S. army during the Viet Nam War. Following his military service, he joined Price Waterhouse/Coopers in Detroit. He stayed in Detroit for 5 years, before transferring to the Honolulu office, where he worked an additional 4 years. Like anyone who has been to Hawaii, he fell in love with the islands. So he joined the Wendy’s franchiser in Honolulu for 3 years and then took a job in Hilo, on the Big Island, as the Manager of Accounting for Hawaiian Electric Industries. Ron returned with his family to Denver in 1984, where he worked for 8 years before taking a Federal job in Washington DC. In 1996, Ron and his wife Vivian bought a motel in Medicine Lodge Kansas, which they operated for 10 years, before retiring back in Denver Ron married Vivian soon after college and they had two beautiful children: Penni and Ken (Kenneth). The children were raised first in Michigan, then in beautiful Hawaii. Penni now resides in Florida. Despite all their moves, they all considered Denver their home. Unfortunately, Ken passed away at the young age of 38, leaving behind a young daughter, Allie. Ron was a unique person, who loved life and enjoyed it to the fullest. He was smart and kind. He was gifted with a natural charisma and loved interacting with people. He was an extrovert who eagerly engaged anyone, and could keep them captivated listening to his tales. Since he was young, he was a natural at entertaining. He loved telling jokes, making up stories and imitating comedians. People were fascinated listening to him imitate a routine from a famous late 1950s comedian about a character named “schizophreny.” Like his Dad, Ron also loved gambling and could be quite good at it. He loved to schmooze people up at the casinos, including pit bosses, hotel managers and Maitre D’s. They often regaled him with many freebies. Spending time with Ron was always an experience. He could break the ice with a stranger and get him engaged in all types of conversations. Often you were not sure where reality ended and fiction began, as he enjoyed being funny by stretching the facts. He told us stories about the people he met while he owned the motel in Medicine Lodge, Kansas. It turns out that Martina MCBride , the country western singer is from Medicine Lodge. So naturally, Ron ”befriended her and her parents.” Martina actually played at the party celebrating the grand reopening of the motel after a fire. There probably is some truth to that. He also met Ted Turner and his son, as they would come into Medicine Lodge on their way to their Montana Ranch, and stay with Ron while they built their ranch house…? When he returned to Denver, Ron became very involved in collecting the Zelinkoff family genealogy in Ancestry.com, but could not help having fun by inserting silly entries into the trees he built. For example, he created a tree for the Zelinkoff family that included his childhood dog Fluffy, stating he died in 1964. Another entry listed his dog Jole, “born in Hawaii in 1977, died in Colorado in 1990 at the Humane Society.” Finally he started a second tree for the Pischer Family, headed by Moishe Pischer! In this tree he claimed to have 100’s of children. The amazing thing about it was that several other unsuspecting people joined their trees into Ron’s tree!! Another of Ron’s trees stated the following: “Ronald Eugene Zelinkoff was born on January 16, 1943, in Denver, Colorado, his father, William, was 44 and his mother, Mollie, was 40. He had one brother and one sister. He died in Turner, Montana.” Until the end, we will always remember that despite all the ups and downs he faced in life, Ron always kept on smiling.