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Ron Plumb is a busy man. He juggles five jobs to support his wife, Wendy, and six children. He is a bus driver, substitute teacher, youth pastor, house painter—and embalmer. All to create a safe and spiritual haven for his family.
Ron met his wife in St. Louis during college and they moved to Hermann in 1983. At the time Ron worked full-time as an embalmer and Wendy worked as a fifth grade teacher. But the funeral home was sold and Ron was forced to commute to St. Louis to work.
In Hermann, Ron drives a school bus five days a week—“the only routine thing about my routine.” His other work is less regimented: once a week, on Sundays, as a youth pastor, freelance house-painting, substitute teaching (everything from elementary to high school).
His earliest specialty, embalming, also is a sometime thing, though he averages about 150 bodies a year, at several area funeral homes, including the one in Hermann.
The plumb children are home-schooled and every member of the family looks after each other in some symbiotic way. Bickering within the family is minimal and tenderness is celebrated.
Katie, the eldest at 20 cleans houses around town and is working to complete her GED and go to college. Noah, 17, who works full-time as a carpenter, is planning to attend a construction college. Amanda, 14, is very nurturing with her younger siblings and often takes on matriarchal tasks when Wendy is teaching or tending to chores. Eight-year-old Josiah is very perceptive but often has trouble staying on task with schoolwork and, like many young boys, often would rather play than study. Michaela, 5, is by far the most vocal and active of the Plumb children, energetic in doing her work and involved in whatever piques her interest. Eliana, 18 months is the infant and is surprisingly independent, a toddler who can wander the home and yard seemingly at will, yet who always has at least one watchful pair of eyes on her.
 Chris Kaufman
D Team
Faculty
MaryAnne Golon
Randy Olson
Appeal-Democrat
Email: chris_kaufman@hotmail.com
Tel: 530-822-5587
View Five Jobs, Six Children
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