Ron Myers was the featured exhibitor in the Domestic Arts Department this year.
Ron Meyers has been entering woodworking in the department since 2003 after encouragement from fellow woodworker, (the late) Byron Brehm.
A native of Darke County, Myers is the second of 13 children born to the late Donald and Evaline (Snyder) Myers. A widower, he has two daughters, Angela Baker and Kim Snyder as well as five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Fretwork, Intarsia, Christmas decorations, rocking horses, pie safes and using recycled materials are Myers’ favorite woodworking projects. He has won numerous ribbons and a rosette in Domestic Arts competition. He gets his inspiration from magazines such as “Scroll, Saw and Woodworking,” The “Intarsia Times”; seeing others work; and taking classes.
A 1962 graduate of Arcanum High School, he worked for GM as a plumber for 35 years before retiring.]Myers is generous in giving his projects away to family as well as charities. He participates in the annual Ansonia Lumber Toy show at Christmastime, where toys made by woodworkers are judged and then donated to needy children.
He gets much of his wood for projects from Frank Miller Lumber Co. in Union city, Ind.; friends who share; and has even harvested some himself. He loves to show the grain of the wood and rarely paints his projects.
Yes, he enjoys working with his scroll saw and even made a wooden quilt for his mother which is on display at the fair this year.
He is appreciative of his sister, Mary, and her husband, Bruce Williams, for helping set up the display in the facility across from the main Domestic Arts building as he had just gotten out of the hospital on Thursday.
Besides woodworking, Myers enjoys golfing and spending time with his family. He enjoys horse racing at the fair and at other tracks.
Some of his earliest memories are going to the fair where his parents showed fruits and vegetables and having picnic lunches by their car parked in the wooded area of the fairgrounds, where the midway is now. He participated in FFA sheep, showing at the county and state level. In 1963, he won the Ohio State Sheep Shearing Contest.
“Do the best you can on your projects,” he replied when asked what his advice to other exhibitors and those of thinking of exhibiting would be. “Don’t worry about winning or losing, just be proud of what you make and let people enjoy it.”
Betsy Nisonger, manager of the Domestic Arts Department, said this advice reflects his attitude and demeanor when participating in the Domestic Arts Department.
“He is encouraging to others and generously shares his talents and ideas,” she said. “We, in the department, appreciate his beautiful projects. We thank Ron for being a faithful and prolific exhibitor who is willing to share his wonderful projects with the Domestic Arts Department and the public.”
