Ronald Leon McGee, 62, of Yates Center, Kansas, passed away Tuesday, June 25, 2019, at his home.

Ron was born August 6, 1956, in Garnett, Kansas, the son of Earnest and LaVerne (Lamb) McGee. He grew up in the Centerville area in Linn County, Kansas, and attended Blue Mound Grade School before graduating from Jayhawk-Linn High School in 1974. He attended Northeastern Oklahoma A & M College in Miami, graduating in 1976, before earning a Bachelor's of Science Degree in Agriculture Education from Kansas State University in 1978.

On May 26, 1979, he and Valerie Patrice Skidmore were married in Topeka, Kansas. They became the parents of three children.

Ron taught Agriculture Education at Highland High School in Highland, Kansas, for six years. He then moved to Yates Center where he sold feed for a year before becoming the Agriculture Education teacher and FFA advisor for Yates Center High School. He taught at YCHS for 27 years before retiring.

He loved rodeo and had won numerous awards as a bareback and bull rider and later as a judge. He was the United Rodeo Assoc. bull riding champion in 1989 and 1990 and won the All-Around championship in 1990. He was a member of the United Rodeo Assoc., the Interstates Rodeo Assoc., the Missouri Rodeo Cowboy Assoc., the Iowa Rodeo Cowboys Assoc., the Kansas State Rodeo Assoc., the Yates Center Saddle Club, the Woodson County Sheep Auction, and the Woodson County Fair Board. He also judged rodeos for the Christian Youth Rodeo Assoc., the Missouri High School Rodeo Assoc., and the Mo-Kan Youth Rodeo Assoc. He had also served as a 4-H Leader in Woodson County.

He attended the New York Valley Church in Yates Center.

His greatest achievement was when he performed CPR on his son, Brett, to save his life in 2015.

He was preceded in death by his father, Earnest McGee, his father-in-law, Forrest Skidmore, and his sister, Marsha Daves.

He leaves his wife, Valerie, of the home; his children, Melanie McKay and husband Matt of Tonganoxie, KS, Kyle McGee and wife Rachel of Yates Center, and Brett McGee of St. Paul, KS; a granddaughter, Harper McGee, and a grandson on the way; his mother, LaVerne McGee of Mound City, KS; his mother-in-law, Nina Skidmore of Topeka, KS; his brother, Marion McGee and wife Theresa of Blue Mound, KS; his brother-in-law, Forrest Skidmore II of Topeka, KS.; several nieces and nephews; and many other relatives and friends.

Memorial services will be held at 10:30 A.M. Tuesday, July 2, 2019, at the New York Valley Church in Yates Center.

The family will meet with friends from 5:00 to 8:00 P.M. Monday, July 1, 2019, at the church.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Yates Center FFA Chapter, the United Rodeo Assoc., or Friends for Life, and may be sent in care of Campbell Funeral Home, PO Box 188, Yates Center, KS 66783.