Obituary of Ronnie Milton Stavinoha

Ronald Milton Stavinoha, passed away peacefully with his wife of 53 years, Linda Stavinoha by his side on February 23, 2025. He was 74 years old. He is preceded in death by his parents, Theresa and Edmund Stavinoha. He is survived by his wife, Linda Stavinoha, sister Janet Vongraff and husband Randy, brother Kenny Stavinoha and wife Karen, brother Kelly Stavinoha and wife Colleen, and numerous nieces, nephews, and great nieces and nephews.

In those 74 years, Ronnie lived a fun filled life with the people and things he loved most. For over 30 years he worked on various projects for Harris County. From starting as a surveyor (or as Linda’s mother called him a “glorified trash man”) in 1970 to ending as project manager for the Astrodome complex. If you knew Ronnie, you knew his love for reminiscing on the stories of the past. Talking about his work projects like, Astrodome, Reliant/NRG stadium, the morgue, the jail, the list could go on and on (just like Ronnie would, if you let him). In his final weeks and days even his nurses taking care of him knew all about the Astrodome and his other various projects with the county. An indicator of a man who truly loved what he did for all the years that he did it.

He was also involved in the Houston Rodeo committees and planning. Starting in the mid 80s he served on various rodeo committees, one being the “Go Texan” committee. Later he would be given a lifetime rodeo committeemen badge. Another side gig Ronnie had was his pest control business. He worked alongside Linda and her father at Custom Pest Control. If he was here, he’d tell you that Linda was always volunteering him as if she was his private advertising company. Linda volunteered him SO much that he ended up fixing toilets too leading him to tell Linda he might as well name his business, “Shitters and Critters”. He never lacked humor.

In his personal life you could describe him as a gruff sounding man with a big heart. From being the local “watch fixer” for Linda’s church ladies (you can still find the small watch batteries on their kitchen floors if you look hard enough) to taking the great nieces and nephews to get their tires rotated at 8:00 in the morning on a Saturday (not always ideal but appreciated, thanks, Uncle Ronnie). If you went over to Ronnie and Linda’s, Ronnie would be right there for you making sure everything was taking care of, and if something wasn’t, he would be right there to fix it. If you happened to tell Ronnie your favorite things, next time you saw him he’d have something for you. Thank you, Ronnie, for the countless jugs of Arizona Green Tea, band shirts off eBay, and other trinkets. Also, a huge thank you to Ronnie for doing all of Linda’s shopping for her, we all know she appreciated it! He once told Linda, “How can you have the gall to even take credit for all the cooking I do?!” but Linda did reassure him saying, “well whenever I walk into a place they ask me, ‘what did Ronnie make?’” So be rest assured his cooking efforts were always appreciated even if he was not there to hear it. He was a servant. Always giving, always caring, and always loving.  

While for right now the grief may feel all consuming. Ronnie would want us to celebrate the life he lived. 2 weeks before he got sick he said, “if I died tomorrow, I’d be okay because I didn’t just have a career, I had a life that I’ve loved.” The grief we feel now is an indication of our love. To grieve is to love, and to love is to grow around the absence of the person you miss. Remember the moments, laughs, and memories of Ronnie that you hold dear. Hopefully in the quiet moments, the voice from those memories will come back to you as if to say “hello” once again. As Ronnie’s favorite band, Lynyrd Skynyrd, once said, “If I leave here tomorrow, would you still remember me...” To answer that simply, yes, we will.