Obituaries

Ronald C. Stanonis

Ronald C. Stanonis
Ronald C. Stanonis

Captain Ronald C. Stanonis, a short-time resident of Southold, died suddenly July 6, 2015, of an assumed heart attack in Amsterdam, Holland. 

Ronald was born in Queens, N.Y., Jan. 20, 1943, to Charles J. and Adele M. (Emge) Stanonis. He had previously lived in Center Moriches and maintained a residence in Brooksville, Fla.

Ron is survived by his twin brother, Gerry, of Southold and his brother Bob, of Mattituck, and a half-sister, Laura, who resides in Oslo, Norway.

Ron graduated from Walt Whitman High School in South Huntington in 1960. He was appointed to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy as a cadet and sailed to Europe on the Coast Guard tall ship Eagle. He left the Coast Guard after two years of service.

Ronald worked his way through Queens College as a waiter, wine steward, and assistant manager in the restaurant industry. He received his Bachelor of Arts in mathematics from Queens College in 1968.

He then went to California and worked as a technician aboard two oceanographic research vessels in the far Eastern Pacific, visiting Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines and Guam.

He started his teaching career as a substitute teacher in the Comsewogue School District in Port Jefferson Station from 1971 to 1972. For 26 years, Ron was employed as a junior high mathematics teacher in the New York City public school system. He retired in 1996.

The sea has always been Ron’s love and passion. This culminated in his obtaining a U.S. Merchant Marine captain’s license in 1997.

In the Gulf of Mexico, he got a position as mate aboard a supply vessel for Tidewater, servicing oil rigs. A back injury on the oil rig terminated his sea career, but Ron continued to travel to many different ports in the world by sea.

Family will receive friends Monday, Aug. 10 from 4 to 8 p.m. at DeFriest-Grattan Funeral Home in Mattituck, where services will begin at 5:30 p.m. led by Father Patrick McNamara. Interment, with U.S. Coast Guard honors, will take place at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 12, at Calverton National Cemetery. The cortege will leave the Funeral Home at 10 a.m.

This is a paid notice.