MAQUOKETA, Iowa — Ronald “Ron” Delagardelle loved a good story.
The Maquoketa man was seldom happier than when he was onstage performing in a play, unless it was when he was immersed in the pages of a historical fiction novel or busy regaling his grandchildren with tall tales of how he had traveled with frontiersman Kit Carson in the “Wild West.”
“Dad was a jokester, and he had that love of storytelling,” said Ron’s daughter, Jeanine O’Bryan. “He told them well, too.”
Ron died Dec. 7 at age 88.
He was born Oct. 6, 1936, the youngest of seven children born to Philip and Cecelia Delagardelle on a Black Hawk County farm.
Ron’s older sisters named him after film actor Ronald Colman and doted on their baby brother for his first few years of life.
“He was a doll to them,” Jeanine said. “I don’t think his feet touched the ground until he was 2.”
Ron graduated from Immaculate Conception High School in Gilbertville, the only boy in a class of 12. He attended Loras College in Dubuque, earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English literature.
Ron’s college roommate was from Clayton, and when Ron went home with him one weekend, he met Prairie du Chien, Wis., native Joan Morel, whose parents were friends with Ron’s roommate’s family.
“My mom was the oldest of seven and my dad was the youngest of seven, so my mom was used to taking care of everyone and my dad was used to being taken care of by everyone,” said daughter Michelle Rolling, laughing. “They fit together perfectly.”
Joan and Ron began dating and married on Sept. 9, 1961. Soon afterward, they moved to Maquoketa when Ron got a job teaching English at Maquoketa High School, a position he would hold for 33 years.
In Maquoketa, the couple raised four children: Charles “Chuck” Delagardelle, Michelle Rolling, Michael Delagardelle and Jeanine O’Bryan.
Ron was a founding member of the local theatrical troupe Peace Pipe Players and performed in nearly 30 shows with the group over a period of five decades, according to longtime troupe members Janet and John Burrow, of Maquoketa.
When John directed a production of the musical “My Fair Lady” in the 1990s, Janet starred as Eliza Doolittle opposite Ron as Henry Higgins.
“There probably was not a human being on earth that I would rather have been onstage with,” she said of Ron. “He was the consummate professional, helpful to anyone and very fun. I adored him.”
No matter the size of his role, Ron committed fully to each moment, even leaping dramatically over a railing to collapse during a death scene for one show at an age when he was “not feeling young,” John recalled.
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His children helped him rehearse lines — though memorization came easily to him — and attended his performances. After the shows, Jeanine would chat with her father as he removed his stage makeup.
When film crews arrived in Dubuque in 1977 to shoot “F.I.S.T.,” the movie about a fictitious 1930s labor union starring Sylvester Stallone, Ron’s theatrical experience helped him snag a speaking role. He played Mr. Samuels, a character who was fired as part of ongoing union drama.
In a 2017 Telegraph Herald article looking back on the movie, Delagardelle recalled auditioning for director Norman Jewison and receiving a contract from MGM two weeks later.
“He must have seen something in me,” Delagardelle said. “But he did make me get a haircut. I had a mustache and a lot more hair at the time.”
While Ron was a natural performer onstage, he was a quiet person in private life and spent his free time curled up with a good book, completing a crossword puzzle or watching a Chicago Cubs baseball game on television.
“My dad was a watcher,” Michelle said. “He wouldn’t walk into a situation and immediately start talking or acting. He was really good at reading the room.”
A lifelong educator, Ron viewed everything as a learning experience for his children. A meal at a local restaurant was a chance to teach them manners, while a vacation offered an opportunity to expose the kids to the history and culture of the Badlands.
At Maquoketa High School, he taught all four of his kids, who appreciated that their father played it cool at school with them.
Standing in the hallway between classes one day, Jeanine uttered a swear word. Her friend’s eyes widened, and she turned around to see her father right behind them.
Ron asked Jeanine, “Did you say something I shouldn’t have heard?’
She responded, “Probably,” and to her relief, he left it at that.
“That was how he was: he never embarrassed us or called us out,” Jeanine said. “Dad knew how to handle it to let us know what was not right, but he also knew we were teenagers.”
When he was a child, Ron’s mother hoped he would become a priest. Though that didn’t pan out, he was actively involved at Sacred Heart Church in Maquoketa, where he sang in the funeral choir, volunteered at Mass and worked with adults who wanted to join the Catholic church.
In August, Ron was diagnosed with lung cancer, which advanced quickly. He was enrolled in hospice in early November and spent his final month at Mill Valley Care Center in Bellevue.
For each staff member who entered the room, he had a joke to share, and during conversations with family, he broke into snatches of long-remembered songs he had heard on the radio as a child.
“He always loved root beer, so (on one of his final days), I asked him, ‘Would you like some root beer?’ and he said yes,” Michelle said. “I snapped open the can, and he said, ‘Well, that sounds like Loras College on Friday night.’ Every moment had to be a joke with him.”