After 25 years as Helena Regional Airport manager, Ron Mercer is retiring from his job but not from his community activism.
What do the Helena Regional Airport, Hometown Helena and the Old Glory flag on Last Chance Gulch all have in common?
The answer: Ron Mercer.
Longtime community activist Ron Mercer announced Wednesday that, after more than 25 years, he will retire from his position as airport manager in May.
“It’s a good time in my personal life to retire, and it’s a good time for the airport,” Mercer said Thursday as he gazed out over the airport’s runway strips, his face illuminated by the late afternoon sun flooding his corner office.
“I’m 70 years old, and that’s another factor,” he added.
After spending a brief stretch of time working as a ticket agent in Minneapolis for Northwest Airlines, Mercer — a Helena native — decided it was time to return to his roots.
“A job came up at the airport as the assistant manager in 1981, and I was lucky enough to get that,” he said.
When the former airport manager retired in 1987, Mercer took over, and the rest is history.
During his tenure as manager, Mercer has been instrumental in growing the economic health of the airport. He worked with local and national companies to build commercial offices on airport property, bringing in revenue to increase the small airport’s outreach.
“We remodeled it in 1994 or 1995,” Mercer said of the airport’s main terminal. “We built the regional fire training facility. That was a tough project.”
Additionally, airport property now houses a Boeing aerospace engineering facility, a National Guard hangar and an office for the U.S. Forest Service.
“I feel pretty lucky that I’ve had the chance to do some of the things I’ve done.”
But Mercer’s accomplishments extend well beyond the boundaries of the airport, and upon hearing of his retirement, community members reflected on their years working with him to make Helena a better place.
Cathy Burwell, president and CEO of the Helena Chamber of Commerce, said Mercer served a total of more than
12 years on the chamber board between 1993 and 2005.
“We gave him an award one time for attending more chamber meetings than anyone in the history of the chamber,” she said of Mercer, who served two one-year terms as board chairman.
“He seriously was the most amazing chair I’ve ever had,” she said. “He got more done, he was just a ‘git ’er done’ guy. He just gets along with everyone. He has so much respect, it’s just amazing.
“Seriously, he’s the type of guy where there are so many people in town who call him up whenever they need any type of information on anything,” Burwell said. “He’s the guy with his ear to the ground.”
Though he never ran, or considered running, for political office, Burwell said Mercer was in close touch with local politicians and used his knowledge of the community to ensure constituents were getting the best service from their elected officials.
“He’s been a mover and shaker in this community for many years, for decades,” she said. “He likes working with a lot of elected officials, and I think he influenced a lot of them.
“If he called them and needed something or wanted them to be aware of something, they took note of it,” she said. “I can’t even think of one negative thing about him ever.”
In addition to his work with the Chamber of Commerce, Mercer was also instrumental in the continuing success of another staple in the Helena community.
“Hometown Helena is pretty well known around the state of Montana,” said Jim Cottrill, co-chair of the weekly meeting. “We meet every Thursday morning at 7 on the sixth floor of the Montana Club and basically it’s just a community gathering of community leaders.”
In 1987, Mercer and Cottrill “got together just to BS” and decided to give the historic program new life.
The event, which serves as a forum for local community leaders, features a different speaker from a local organization each week. Past speakers include representatives from Special Olympics and the Archie Bray Foundation for Ceramic Arts, U.S. Sen. Jon Tester and Gov. Steve Bullock.
Despite Mercer’s retirement, Cottrill said he thinks Mercer will remain active with Hometown Helena and within the community.
“We’ll be at Hometown Helena until both of us decide to quit,” Cottrill said. “He just likes the community and does stuff a lot of people don’t know about.
“I have never run into anybody who is more honest than Ron Mercer,” he said. “When he tells you something, you can hang your hat on it.”
Helena Regional Airport Authority Chair Howard Skjervem said the airport board met Wednesday to begin the process of searching for a replacement manager.
“Our intention is to have the application process ready by the first of March,” he said. “The board will review the applications and then our hope, of course, is to have the proper person chosen so we can line it up a couple weeks before Ron leaves so there can be some overlap there.”
At this point, Assistant Airport Manager Jeff Wadekamper could be a prime candidate to be Mercer’s replacement.
“Jeff is a quality person, Ron has mentored him well,” Skjervem said. “Through the years that Jeff has been there, we are sure Jeff will be a strong candidate for the position, but we are looking at opening it up overall.”
In the meantime, Mercer will spend the next few months preparing for and looking forward to the life of retirement.
“I have some hobbies I’m pursuing,” Mercer said, referencing his love of hot rod cars, for which he recently expanded his garage to six bays.
“I’ve got a little man cave to go to,” he said.
When he’s not working on restoring his 1923 Ford Roadster, Mercer said he is looking forward to spending more time with his five daughters and 10 grandkids, all of whom live in either Helena or Bozeman.
“We get together and do a lot of things together,” he said of his family.
Mercer said his retirement from the airport will not affect his participation in community events.
“I still have business interests, I still have boards I serve on and things I’ll do in the community,” he said. “This community has come a long way. A lot of people have worked really hard.
“It’s a great town.”
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