Ronald Dubinsky

Captain Ronald L. Dubinsky placed “wheels in the wheel well” for his final flight home on March 8, 2025. He passed peacefully in hospice in Toledo, Ohio surrounded by his daughters, grandchildren, and ex-wife just shy of his 89th birthday. He joins his pilot buddies, friends, and family who preceded him to the big airplane hangar in the sky.

Born April 24,1936 to Fred and Juanita Dubinsky, Ron spent his early years in St. Louis, Missouri where he graduated from Beaumont High School in 1953. The middle child of three brothers, he was born one year after Bob and thirteen years before Jerry. A star high school baseball player, he earned a baseball scholarship to Washington University. Enjoying college life a little too much, he lost that scholarship and signed up for the Marines. The Marine Corps sent him to the United States Naval Air Training Command in Pensacola, Florida where he graduated as a pilot in 1958. He was then stationed in California, Hawaii, and Japan.

In 1965 the Marines landed in Da Nang, Vietnam and Ron was with them. Later that year, Ron joined Air America, the CIA’s clandestine airlines, as a helicopter pilot. He flew missions for two years out of Udorn, Thailand before returning stateside to attend Missouri University. Missing the excitement of flying, he found his way back to Southeast Asia and Air America in 1970.

During his time with Air America, Ron flew missions in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. Ron said “In Laos we provided air support and evacuation to the Hmong tribesmen who were recruited by the CIA and caught between the warring Pathet Lao and Viet Cong. We also flew medical missions and rescued downed US pilots.” Ron said: “I flew helicopters; we flew low and were susceptible to ground fire. I was hit a number of times but never injured. My mother used to say there was a guardian angel following me.”

“One Night in Bangkok,” as the song goes, Ron met Deanna Dirks, from Akron, Iowa, who was teaching in Saigon. Later they rendezvoused in Montreal, Canada where they were engaged, marrying February 29, 1972, in Udorn, Thailand. Air America stationed Ron in Saigon in 1973. In Saigon, Ron and Deanna fostered nine Vietnamese orphans who were adopted to families in the US, Europe and Australia. Ron and Deanna then adopted their two oldest daughters, Sasha and Nadiya, in Saigon.

Ron spoke out against escalations of the ‘secret war’ in Cambodia after the signing of the peace accords and withdrawal of U.S. troops from Vietnam in 1973. He was concerned it would become like the ‘secret war’ in Laos. In 1974, Ron left Air America, relocating his family to Isfahan, Iran. Ron taught Iranian helicopter pilots for Bell Helicopter before the fall of the Shah. It was while living in Iran they welcomed their third daughter, Danae, in 1975. After two years in Iran they returned to the states. Their fourth daughter, Joanna, arrived in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1977. Ron’s first job back stateside was flying helicopters. He then purchased a transmission business, but Ron will be the first to admit running that business was not his forte and he soon returned to school to become a teacher.

Ron pursued a teaching certification–and finally finished his college degree– at North Texas University at Denton when the family moved to Plano, Texas in 1984. After ten years stateside in Ohio and Texas, Ron and Deanna returned overseas in 1987 with their four daughters to Seoul, South Korea to teach high school with the Department of Defense Dependent Schools (DODDs) at Seoul American High School (SAHS). All four daughters graduated from SAHS. SAHS students remember Mr. Dubinsky fondly for his humor in his science classroom and as the Far East Wrestling Sponsor. He also taught a high school Aviation course complete with flight simulation; some of those students went on to become pilots. Ron and Deanna parted ways at this time, but Ron continued teaching for DODDs in Korea and Germany.

Upon retirement he moved back to the States, joining some of his former Air America pilot buddies in Sarasota, Florida. The old friends often exchanged war stories, which–Ron observed to his daughters– occasionally became more embellished with the passage of time. Ron’s brother Jerry, his wife Susan and their son Joel relocated from St. Louis, Missouri to Bradenton, Florida and loved spending time with Ron by the pool. Ron and Jerry, ever still the boys of their youth, would often exchange witty but loving barbs.

Ron’s last six years were spent in Toledo, Ohio where his daughter, Nadiya, and her husband, Brandon Buerk, live with their five children. Ron was especially proud that Nadiya and Brandon served as officers in the US Army and were in Baghdad during the early days of the Iraq War. Nadiya and Brandon continued the tradition of adopting two of their five children, a daughter from Thailand and a son from Ethiopia.

Ron lived in Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Iran, Korea, and Germany and in many US states. He will be remembered by those who loved him for his distinguished service to his country and for his great sense of humor. He was very proud of his four daughters, bragging about them to anyone who would listen. His daughters doted on him until the end; Nadiya would rarely go a day without visiting him multiple times. Nadiya was a fierce advocate for her dad and her sisters give her credit for keeping him alive many more years than he might have lived. Ron was a life-long Roman Catholic. In the days before his death, he was blessed with both Ashes on Ash Wednesday and the sacraments of the Last Rites.

Nadiya applied for and Ron was selected amongst hundreds of applicants for the Flag City Honor Flight which facilitates World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War era veterans to visit the monuments in Washington, DC. The flight takes place April 1, 2025, and though Nadiya will not be taking Ron, his family knows in lieu of flowers, he would appreciate donations to either the Flag City Honor Flight or the Wounded Warrior Project. Ron will be interred with Military Funeral Honors at the Georgia National Cemetery near where Danae and Sasha live on a date to be determined.

Ron was preceded in death by his parents Fred and Juanita Dubinsky and brother Bob Dubinsky; he is survived by his brother: Jerry Dubinsky, and his wife Susan Dubinsky and their son, Joel Dubinsky all of Bradenton, Florida; Ron’s oldest daughter, Sasha Makel, her husband, Brad Makel, their son, Alan Makel all of Woodstock GA; Nadiya Buerk and her husband, Brandon Buerk, their children, Kathryn, Emily, Lauren, Adam, and James Buerk all of Toledo, Ohio; Danae Werthman and her husband, Jason Werthman and their children Cole, Zach, and Maelyn Werthman all of Milton, GA; Joanna Dubinsky and partner Nathan Bluford of New Orleans, LA.; and his ex-wife and mother of his children, Deanna Boe of Roswell, GA.