Ron knew from the day he met Carole that she was the woman with whom he wanted to spend the rest of his life. They met about a year before their marriage, when Ron was playing five-string banjo in a bluegrass band with Carole’s sister’s husband, Albert Fox. Carole came to visit Fox’s house, near the Cincinnati Zoo.
“When I’d seen her sitting there, the love bug bit,” Ron said. “When you first see this one in your life, something just happens to you that’s never happened before.”
For Carole’s part, “I was real cautious, because I was taught (to be) cautious. But I could feel a good feeling from him. I could tell I liked him right away,” she said.
Indeed, Ron liked Carole so much that he started inventing excuses to see her.
“He would come over to (Fox’s) house to get a haircut, and he didn’t need a haircut,” Carole said with a laugh. Eventually the couple tied the knot and made their way to the Middletown area, living in Monroe, Franklin and finally Middletown itself. They have two grown children, Ronnie Caddell and Connie Craycraft, and four grandchildren.
To say the Caddells are active in church would be an understatement. Ron is the pastor of the Middletown Gospel Assembly Church on 1715 Oxford State Road and has been since 1992.
“It takes three partners to have a successful marriage,” Ron said. “A husband, a wife and Jesus Christ.”
Ron said of his wife, “She’s just herself. She doesn’t put on a front of any kind. She has a lot of patience with me. When I’m going through stress, she’s always encouraging.”
Carole said of her husband, “I like him because he’s been true to me. He’s been a good father and grandfather and a good pastor of the church. He helps keep me straight,” she said.
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