Since it began 16 years ago, the Ronald A. Gill Jr. Scholarship Foundation has given almost $400,000 in scholarships to students, and its work continues as it prepares to throw its sixteenth annual golf tournament this Saturday, July 22, at the Cranston Country Club.

Ronald A. Gill Jr., or Ronnie to his parents, grew up in Cranston, attended Cranston High School West, was a member of the US Coast Guard and a Federal Law Enforcement Officer who was killed in the line of duty on March 25 2007 during a training mission, his father explained.

Those lucky enough to have gotten a ticket, before they sold out, will enjoy a traditional cook-out style lunch of hotdogs and burgers donated by Shaw’s Market in Chapel View, a $10,000 putting contest and a new car hole-in-one contest donated by Herb Chambers Seekonk. Ron Gill, who began the foundation in honor of his son, said that they, along with Twiggy’s Automotive in Warren, are crucial donors to the golf tournament every year and take the financial strain off him so that he can focus on helping to raise scholarship funds for students who will need them.

“I never thought, at that time, that we’d be approaching our $400,000 mark,” Gill said. “That was not even in our sights. As we progressed we kept the golf tournament, then we began a motorcycle ride in April, a bowling tournament at Lang’s Bowlarama in October and a macaroni dinner every December for Christmas. Each season we have an event, and out of those four events and the generosity of a lot of people we’ve been able to keep Ronnie’s foundation going.”

Wanting to keep alive his legacy for his daughter, who was born six months after her father passed and now attends the same high school he once went to, Gill said that he knew he had to do something to honor his memory and give his granddaughter a father she could look up to even though he had passed away. He may not have had the chance to be there in person, but his father said Ronnie left behind the name Gracie for her daughter and she was given his middle name Allen.

Finding a way to put his son’s name out there wasn’t easy, but Gill was determined to do so. After some discussion with friends and family he decided to hold a golf tournament.

I wish I could tell you I knew what I was doing,” Gill said when remembering the effort to get the foundation started, “but I did it. I just knew that I wanted to do something. When it came time to do the golf tournament my friend, Pat Harrington who used to own Fitzpatrick Pub on Park Avenue, said ‘We’ll do this together.’”

The August after his son’s passing Gill had successfully pulled together the first charity golf tournament of the foundation as a means to honor the memory of his son. Ron had played in many golf tournaments and was ready for setting one up to be just as much of a breeze, not that it was.

“I wound up doing every single thing for that first golf tournament by myself. I sold every ticket to the golfers, every gift certificate and every raffle item. Everything to be done for that first golf tournament I did it 100% alone. I remember that when the night was over I was in my bedroom standing in front of my bureau in tears because the golf tournament had already helped me to manage my grief over my son.”

Being able to talk about his son, working to honor his memory and to leave a positive image of the late Ronnie for his growing daughter had been exactly what Gill had needed to begin moving forward with his life after the tragedy.

“I remember looking at my wife, Rosemary, and saying to my wife ‘what am I going to do now,’” Gill recalled. “She looks at me and says ‘prepare for next year’s golf tournament. For her it was just that simple to console me. Now here we are selling 144 golfers every year, and we have another about 75 people on top of that coming to dinner.”

In the process of moving forward with that exact plan, more ideas came to Gill one by one. Soon after the motorcycle ride, macaroni dinner and bowling tourney came together. In fact, the motorcycle ride, which was first among the additional events, is having its fifteenth annual run next April.

“It’s an amazing thing that 16 years later we’re selling out on everything and every event almost immediately,” Gill praised.

With his granddaughter turning 16 this year, Gill has done a lot to honor the memory of her father. A legacy he plans to continue. He’s excited for this year’s tournament on Saturday, though he expects it to be a hot one.

“Well it’s going to be the third week of July,” he laughed. “A day at the golf course is a 12-hour day. Kids that are involved with the organization or who have received scholarships will be there. They put in a lot of time and work.

Despite the heat and, if the weather as of late is an indication, the humidity they’ll face, Gill and the members and volunteers at the foundation look forward to their chance to raise money, not just for Ronnie, but for all of the future students who will benefit from the scholarships they provide.

“The golf tournament is always held on the Saturday that’s closest to Ronnie’s birthday,” Gill said. “His birthday is July 21. Those kids are out there from 9 a.m. to maybe 9 or 10 p.m. Selling raffle tickets, moving stuff around giving out the shirts and being at the hole-in-one putting contest. They do so much more too. The kids that get these scholarships and volunteer their time are amazing to us.”

That first golf Tournament raised $17,000. Less than a year after his son’s passing Gill had managed to pull together an event that would literally change lives. The funds, of which Johnson & Wales received $10,000 and Cranston West $5,000, were used to help provide students in need with funds to continue their education. If you were to ask where Ronnie went to school, your answer would be right there.

“When Ronnie graduated from West he went to Johnson & Wales,” Gill explained. “He earned a degree in culinary and worked at Cafe Itri. Then 9/11 hit, and that’s what made him change course in his life.”

Ronnie passed when he was just 26 years old, and now, 16 years later, his daughter follows in his footsteps by attending Cranston High School West and participating in their culinary program. 

Gill said that the foundation is going strong, and he’s proud of it even if they’re currently having trouble with their website, as a lapse of registration led to it being purchased by an unknown entity and replaced with a spam page. However, he said that a friend is working on the issue, and he hopes a new webpage will be up and running again soon so that those wishing to purchase tickets to future events.

“We have our bowl-a-thon on September 16,” Gill said. “We have it at Lang’s, and that’s a really fun event. Tickets for that will go on sale after the golf tournament. They’ll be $20 a ticket and you get three hours of bowling with the shoes, so it’s a really good deal. Our Facebook is the easiest way to reach us. Or people can just call our house. It’s (401) 942-4799. People are more than welcome to call for anything, any information and any donation from companies or individuals who just want to contribute to Ronnie’s foundation because they think it’s a good cause.”