Long time Homer resident and former teacher Jane Arlene Ronda, 92, passed away peacefully at Providence Hospital in Anchorage on Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025.
Arlene was born on March 28, 1933, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to Floyd and Ruth Heintzelman. She graduated as valedictorian of her high school class and went on to earn her degree from Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. She met her husband, Donald Ronda, while attending Antioch. For an adventure, on their 1956 honeymoon they drove to Alaska from Michigan via the recently opened ALCAN Highway.
Arlene and Don made Alaska their permanent home in 1957, first living in Anchorage where she taught at Elmendorf Air Force Base and then Fairbanks where she taught at Ladd/FortWainwright. The couple then moved to Naknek, where they team-taught grades K–12 in a two room schoolhouse and fished commercially in Bristol Bay.
In 1962 they settled in Homer where Arlene quickly became a beloved, team-oriented, second-grade teacher at East Homer Elementary (now Paul Banks). In addition to academic fundamentals she nurtered talent in music, linguistics, logic, physical movement, spatial awareness, naturalist abilities and interpersonal behavior based on Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences. An unassuming leader, she took pride in working with other educators to maintain excellence to Homer’s public schools.
From 1969 to1975 Arlene and Don helped run Beluga Charters, one of Homer’s earliest fishing, sight-seeing, and water taxi businesses. Arlene spent many hours with the family hiking, boating or fishing on Kachemak Bay or recreating elsewhere in the state. Since she was a selftaught naturalist, she always enjoyed the out-of-doors and identifying wildflowers or harvesting native plants, berries, mushrooms and other wild foods.
Arlene was creative and spirited. She loved art and surrounded herself with the work of Alaskan artists and her family. She played guitar and piano. She drew. She crafted legacy quilts and sewed. She was in the Homer Writer’s Group and enjoyed expressing herself through poetry. But more than anything, she loved to sing. Nicknamed “Mary Poppins,” it was as common for her to burst into song while hiking as it was to quietly hum a grandchild to sleep. Through the years she participated in the Sweet Adelines, Seaside Singers, the United Methodist Church Choir and the Kenai Peninsula Community Chorus (aka Homer Community Choir).
Arlene was a behind-the-scenes nurturer with a stable, generous presence. Her support at home enabled husband Don to participate in many civic activities. In the 1980s, as part of the AFS Intercultural Exchange program, she and Don welcomed“honorary sons”John MacMurray (Australia) and Bruno Rivolta (Italy) to each live with the family for a year of high school. For a time she was also a dedicated Hospice volunteer, and for over a decade cared for three successive elderly family members in her home during their decline.
Like many Alaskan’s, Arlene was well-traveled. In the early 1970s, she and Don toured Canada and most of the lower 48 states while living in a camper and homeschooling their three children. Before and during retirement they also visited family throughout the US and explored parts of Europe, Russia, Australia, Fiji, and the South Pacific. Arlene loved and embraced all that is Alaska and especially appreciated the unique gifts of life at the “end of the road.” Her biggest joy was to foster and participate in Homer’s welcoming, supportive, creative and diverse community.
Arlene was predeceased by her father Floyd Heintzelman; mother Ruth Lane (Lee); husband Don; sister Violet Greenwood (Ralph); and Jack Ronda. She is survived by her children Ann Kontak (David), Sharon Baring (Tom), and Michael Ronda (Amy Vore); grandchildren GraceAnn, Nathaniel, Katherine, Aurielle, and Danika; sister-in-law Kaye Ronda; as well as many nieces and nephews.
A Celebration of Life is planned for December 21, 2025, from 2pm to 4pm at the Homer UnitedMethodist Church
In lieu of flowers, friends are invited to make a donation in Arlene’s memory to the Kenai Peninsula Community Chorus (KPCC) (c/o Pier One Theatre, 332, E. Pioneer Avenue #3, Homer, AK 99603) or the Homer Foundation (P.O. Box 2600, Homer, AK 99603).
