Ronald Carl Ahlers Sr.

Ronald Carl Ahlers Sr., age 75, of Mitchell, Nebraska, passed at his home on Saturday, April 18, 2026. A funeral service will be held at 10 a.m., Thursday, April 23, 2026, at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Scottsbluff, Nebraska with Pastor Jeffery Grams officiating. Viewing will be held one hour prior to service time at the church. Burial will follow at West Lawn Cemetery in Gering, Nebraska. Memorials may be made in care of the family and will be designated at a later date. The service will be live-streamed and recorded to Ron’s obituary page viewable at www.reverencefuneralparlor.com.

Ron was born on July 9, 1950, in Tilden, Nebraska, to Louis Rudolph and Marilyn Catherine (Martinsen) Ahlers. He graduated from Scottsbluff High School in 1967 and attended post-secondary school at Nebraska Western College.

He married Sharon Kay Miller on February 28, 1970, at St. John’s Lutheran Church, where he remained a lifelong member. Ron spent his livelihood working his way up through grocery store bakeries and opening new stores across the nation before rising to Vice President of Bakery Operations for Safeway nationwide. He earned the title of Certified Master Baker, a distinction held by only 500 people in the country at the time. In 1988, he brought that expertise home by purchasing and reopening the Gering Bakery in Gering, Nebraska. Ron later opened the Rolling Pin Bakery in Sidney, Nebraska and Bluff's Bakery in Scottsbluff. He remarried Edee Kay Flowers on March 19th, 2011, at St. John’s Lutheran Church.

Ron was the kind of man who could out-argue anyone in the room and still send them home laughing with a big hug. Stubborn to his core, he had a gift for standing his ground without ever losing a friendship. His door was always open to anyone who needed a place to land. Ron was the oldest of six siblings and the thread that held the family together no matter how far life scattered them. His faith was quiet but constant, and he led by example, showing his children and grandchildren what it looked like to trust God and build a life on that foundation. Ron was the heart of the family, and everyone who loved him knew it.

He found joy in the purposeful and peaceful: baking, cooking, fishing, hunting, and the hum of his tractor. The mountains called to him often, and he answered every chance he got, always eager to see what was around the next bend.

Survivors include his wife, Edee Ahlers of Mitchell; mother, Marilyn Loose of Scottsbluff; children, Ron (Cindy) Ahlers Jr. of Scottsbluff, Chris (Jenn) Ahlers of Gering, Amanda Ahlers of Kansas City, KS, and Heather (Jesse) Garcia of Council Bluffs, IA; stepchildren, Tiphony Burkhardt of Scottsbluff, Nathan (Crystal) Flowers of Gering, Nick Flowers of Gering, and Justin Brown of Gering; twenty-two grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and siblings, Linda (Ed) Peterson, Dave (Roxanne) Ahlers, Nancy (Paul) Nelson, and Jeff (Kelly) Ahlers.

He was preceded in death by his late wife, Sharon Ahlers; father, Louis Ahlers; sister, Debra Shank; and great granddaughter, Emerson Ahlers.