Ronald James Beaton, of West Columbia, slipped the surly bonds of earth on Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Born December 21, 1932 in Medford, Massachusetts, he was a son of the late Joseph Beaton and Sarah MacEachern. His early youth was spent in Medford Massachusetts, near Boston, but he met his wife Myrna Powers, the love of his life, while in aviation cadet training in Houston, Texas. The next 21+ years of his life were in service to our country mostly flying B36s and navigating KC135 tankers to refuel B52s, SR71s, and fighter jets, with hundreds of pictures of the same as proof. He planned bomb runs in Vietnam and often told anyone who would listen that we could have won that war any day of the week if the cursed USA State Department would have approved bombing plans to destroy all the dikes and dams and flood North Vietnam to their armpits with water, and he worked for years in Air Force intelligence. That last job was perfect for Major Beaton, reading news all day and then briefing others, generals and privates and family, about the state of the world and especially about "The Nature of the Communist Threat". Then he taught Air Force JROTC at CA Johnson High School in Columbia for 17 years. Besides the many, many lives he touched as a teacher, one of his great achievements was to get a USA history book thrown out of the entire school district because it wrote that the US forced Japan to attack Pearl Harbor because we "blockaded!" Japan (which is completely false revisionist history). Major Beaton and his generation won the cold war. He taught his children and grandchildren to work hard and to value their American and Scottish heritage, and all about history and world events and life. On July 14 Ronald and Myrna celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. He supported his family, his country and was an active member serving in many capacities of the following communities: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Tea Party Movement, the Palmetto Scottish Country Dance Society, the Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem, and he was a past president of The Robert Burns Society of the Midlands.

He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Myrna Powers Beaton and their four children, Bonnie Allen (Brad), Brenda Tyree (Brent), Bradford (Deanne), and Tamara Farris (Raymond); his grandchildren, Daniel, Michael, Stephen, Joshua, Andrew (serving a 2 year mission in Brazil), Sarah Beaton, and Ryan Farris. He is loved and will be greatly missed.

The service for Ronald J. Beaton will be held at 11 o'clock, Saturday, July 30th, at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, West Columbia 1st Ward, 1330 Whippoorwill Drive, West Columbia, with Bishop Rocco Del Priore, Jr. officiating. Burial will follow at Arlington Memorial Park in Atlanta. The family will receive friends prior to the service beginning at 9:30 in the church Relief Society room. Shives Funeral Home, Trenholm Road Chapel, is assisting the family.