Ronald E. "Abe" Fitzkee, Sr.

York - Ronald E. "Abe" Fitzkee, Sr., 92, died on Thursday, December 30, 2021 at Senior Commons at Powder Mill. He was the husband of the late Janice A. Fitzkee who died on July 17, 2015.

A celebration of life service will be held at 1 p.m. on Friday, January 7, 2022 at Bethany United Methodist Church, 121 W. Broadway, Red Lion with his pastor, the Reverend Ronald Doverspike officiating. A viewing will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday at the church. Burial will be in Susquehanna Memorial Gardens with full military honors provided by the York County Veterans Honor Guard. Olewiler & Heffner Funeral Chapel & Crematory, Inc., 35 Gotham Pl., Red Lion is in charge of arrangements.

Ron was born in Red Lion on February 15, 1929 to Paul Wesley Fitzkee and Dorothy Mae (Sechrist) Fitzkee Miller. He was raised in Windsor and is a proud Windsor Kid.

He was a 1947 graduate of Red Lion High School where he excelled in football, basketball, baseball and track. Ron went on to star in football and baseball at Gettysburg College, and earned an AB Degree in Education in 1951. He received his Master's Degree in Education and Education Administration Certification from Western Maryland College.

After graduation from Gettysburg College, he was inducted into the U.S. Army on August 22, 1951 as a 2nd lieutenant, he served in the Korean Conflict with the Korean Military Advisory Group (KMAG) and was discharged in November, 1953.

Ron returned to York County and in one week began his teaching career at William Penn Senior High School, York, PA where he taught Health and physical education and coached varsity wrestling. He returned to Red Lion, his Alma Mater, in 1954 as a teacher and coach of baseball (12 years with nine York County Eastern Division Championships and six York County Championships). He was an assistant football coach for 3 years and in 1957 was named head coach for 12 years. (His teams won five football championships in the Lancaster/York Conference of the Roses and the Y.C.I.A.A. and enjoyed a 37-game winning streak from 1963 through 1967 seasons, the longest in the state at the time. His 1964, 1965 and 1966 teams went undefeated and untied.

He was appointed senior high school assistant principal in 1964 and principal in 1968, relinquishing his football coaching position. He served as principal for 19 years and twice as interim superintendent until his retirement in 1986. During the 1970s and 1980s, he helped to provide leadership in the YCIAA to begin athletic events for girls in basketball, track, tennis and golf. He served as the chairman of volleyball and golf tournaments with PIAA District III committee and as treasurer of the Y.C.I.A.A. for 10 years.

He was a Red Lion Borough Councilman. He was elected as a York County commissioner, serving from 1988 through 1991 and served as president of the County Prison Board, the Anti-Drug Commission as well as the National Association of Counties Drug Abuse Task Force, County Truancy Board, York Area Transportation Study Group, Juvenile Detention Home Board, the March of Dimes Executive Committee, the Pennsylvania representative to the Chesapeake Bay Local Government Advisory Committees, and he was a board member of the York County Action Group to Save the Bay.

He is a life member of the Red Lion American Legion Post 543, the Red Lion Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1446, the Victory Club and the Red Lion B.P.O.E. No. 1592. He was also a member of the Rotary Club and Red Lion Lions Club.

He is the recipient of Red Lion Borough's Catherine Meyer Award, was named to the Susquehanna Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, a member of the RLASD alumni Leo Club Hall of Fame, the Red Lion American Legion Post 543 Hall of Fame, and the York County Sports Hall of Fame. The Red Lion Area Board of School Directors dedicated the new Ronald E. "Abe" Fitzkee Athletic Facility on Sunday, May 17, 2009 in his honor.

In 1979, while senior high school principal, he organized the Leo Club, and alumni group which has raised funds to place lights on Horn Field for both football and baseball; gave financial support for lighting on the former tennis and outdoor basketball courts; provided activity buses for students involved in after-school activities; initiated the Hall of Fame of Distinguished Graduates program; publishes Annual Leo Club Newsletters which goes to more than 16,000 graduates

He served as education chairman for the Red Lion Lions Club scholarship committee and was a member of the York County Chamber of Commerce Education Committee for Partnering of Educators and Businesses. From 1992 until retirement in February of 2009 at age 80, Abe was employed by Crabtree, Rohrbaugh and Associates Architects as Director of Client Relations.

Ron was a member of Bethany United Methodist Church, Red Lion.

He was married to the former Janice Margaret Austin on December 12, 1953. He is survived by two sons, Ron II, wife Esther of Acworth, GA and Scott, wife Michelle of Bel Air, MD, and three grandchildren, Alexa Jordan, Bryn Elizabeth and Brody Austin. He has two brothers, Dennis Fitzkee, wife Pat and Toby Fitzkee, wife Helen.