Ronald Paul Haselhuhn

Ronald P. Haselhuhn, 91, of Emporia, Kansas, died Mar. 6, 2025. He was born July 10, 1933, in Dallas, Iowa, to Don L. Haselhuhn and Dorothy A. Christoph. He married Janice E. Salvatori on June 7, 1958, and they enjoyed 59 years together.

Visitation will be Sunday, Mar. 16, at 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. at Roberts Blue Barnett Funeral Home. Funeral services will take place Monday, Mar. 17, at 2:00 p.m. at Messiah Lutheran Church, 1101 Neosho St., Emporia, Kansas. Private interment will take place at Zion Lutheran Cemetery, Olpe, Kansas.

Ron attended Omaha Technical High School in Omaha, Nebraska, from 1947 to 1950, graduating when he was 17. He attended Concordia Teachers College in Seward, Nebraska, from 1950 until 1952, where he studied fine art, intending to pursue a career in commercial art and advertising.

Ron's studies were interrupted in 1952 by the Korean War. He enlisted in the U.S. Army and began active military service in January 1953 as a private, training as a medical aidman. He often told stories of his time as a company clerk with the 3rd Army in Nurenberg, Germany (some of which were probably true). He achieved expert marksman status and received the National Defense Service Medal, the Army of Occupation Medal, and a Good Conduct Medal. He attained the rank of corporal and received an honorable discharge in 1956.

After Ron's discharge, he returned to college at the University of Omaha, graduating in 1958 with a bachelor's of fine arts. While at the university, he changed his career focus to librarianship. He worked his way up from a library intern to a part-time salaried position in the government documents collection.

After their marriage, Ron and Jan moved to Denver, where Ron completed a master's degree in library science at the University of Denver in 1958. He began his first full-time job as a librarian in 1959 as a civilian employee at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. In 1962, Ron accepted a job at St. Cloud State University in St. Cloud, Minnesota. While there, he began teaching library science and completed the coursework for a doctorate in education at the University of Minnesota Minneapolis campus.

In 1970, Ron accepted a full-time teaching position as an assistant professor at Indiana State University in Terre Haute, Indiana. In 1971, he joined the faculty of the School of Library and Information Management (SLIM) at Emporia State University (ESU) in Emporia, Kansas, retiring from ESU in 2001 after a long and distinguished career. He particularly enjoyed teaching in SLIM's distance learning program, helping the school extend its accredited library program to Iowa, Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, North Dakota, and Idaho.

Ron was a lifetime member of the American Library Association (ALA) and served in many committee and leadership roles for the ALA and its Mountain Plains Region. He was also a long-time member of the American Orchid Society and the Kansas Orchid Society. He raised award-winning orchids in the basement of his Emporia home, and he was particularly interested in finding and preserving orchid species native to Kansas.

Ron was preceded in death by his wife, Janice E. Haselhuhn (Jan), his parents, and his sister, Marjorie (Jack) Pollack. He is survived by daughters Barbara (Howard) Sanford and Pamela Babb; sons Robert Haselhuhn and Don (Gayle) Haselhuhn; grandchildren Elizabeth Sanford, Eric Babb, Taylor Babb, Samantha Hayes, Garrett Hayes, Marisa Haselhuhn, Noelle Haselhuhn, Caleb Haselhuhn and Andrew Haselhuhn; and many nieces and nephews and their spouses and children.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions are suggested to the Arne H. Richards Memorial Scholarship at Emporia State University and the Kansas Orchid Society.