If you are looking for integrity, great work ethic, and a one-of–a kind personality, look no further than Ron Svartoien. He’s not one for self-congratulation, but ask him about his life and you’ll get the kind of story that builds itself—layer by honest layer.

“I was born in Rockford in 1947,” he begins. “We didn’t have hot water. No indoor plumbing. Four of us kids shared a single bedroom. We had to go to the bathroom in an outhouse, and you stomped on the floor to scare the rats before going in.”

He moved to Byron in eighth grade when his father, a local farmer relocated the family. “That’s the first time we had indoor plumbing,” he laughs. “It was a big deal.”

Ron graduated from Byron High School in 1965, a self-described “Fonzie” of his class—rowdy but not reckless. He didn’t play sports; there were too many chores waiting at home. “We had cattle, pigs, and no hired help. You worked. You didn’t hire help back then,” he says. “You learned to fix it yourself.”

He joined the Marine Corps in 1966, training in aircraft mechanics at a Navel Air Station (NAS) in Millington, Tennessee, and becoming top in his class, which earned him first pick of duty stations. “Unfortunately, at that time, there was only one pick,” he says. “Vietnam.” He served as a crew chief on a transport aircraft, flying cargo and troops in and out of combat zones, stationed primarily in Iwakuni, Japan. By age 21, after two years in the Marine Corps, he was meritoriously promoted by his Senior Officers to (E-5) Sergeant for leadership and performance.

After four years of service, Ron returned home—only to discover that the factory job at Chrysler he’d left behind was no longer a good fit for him. “I’d drive to work and dread it,” he says. “It wasn’t for me.”

A friend told him about an opening at a local John Deere construction equipment dealership in Rockford, currently known as West Side Tractor. After talking with his boss at Chrysler, he didn’t want to leave.  He didn’t quit right away;  he only took a two-week leave  to try it out.

“I never went back,” he says.

He spent the next 15 years as a diesel mechanic, overhauling engines, traveling to job sites, and building a reputation for trustworthiness and top-tier work.

Then came a curveball.

In the early 1980s, amid soaring interest rates and slowed business, his boss called him in. “We want you in sales,” he said.

Ron was stunned—and unsure. “I had a family to support. I was making ten bucks an hour as a mechanic and knew what my paycheck was going to be every week. Sales felt risky - less money an hour and no guaranteed salary. It would be up to me to be successful.” Still, he gave it a shot. The first week, a fellow salesman sold five barrels of oil at the store counter and mocked Ron’s lack of sales. “I told him, ‘You try driving around and finding someone who needs five barrels of oil, instead of having someone just walk up and order it.’”

He went on to become one of the top salesmen at West Side Tractor Sales, a company he’s now worked for 54 years—under three generations of the same family.  Ron firmly believes that “people buy from people, not from companies.”

He’s been married 54 years to Nancy Aliprandini, Byron’s prom and homecoming queen in 1968 and still his queen today. Together, they raised three daughters, Becky, Teri, and Jodi (all Byron High School graduates), now grown with nine grandchildren and four great-grandsons between them.

The Svartoien name is still known around Byron—not because Ron went looking for attention, but because he’s the kind of man who shows up and puts in the work. Whether hauling troops in Vietnam, rebuilding a diesel engine, or helping a stranger (who will soon become his friend) , he does what needs doing. No drama. No spotlight. Just the rhythm of a life built on purpose, hard work and perseverance.

“I’m not a college guy,” he says. “I’m a farm boy. That’s who I’ve always been.”

And the world’s a little steadier because of it.