KNOX — Ronald Hempstead, who made his way through life armed with a sense of humor and a willingness to help others, died on Sunday, June 18, 2017. He was 68. He enjoyed being around people and poking fun.

“He loved to joke around...a ballbuster was really what he was,” said his wife, Kathleen Hempstead. “Especially if he knew you, it was worse.”

He was born in Albany on Jan. 1, 1949, the son of the late William and Bertha (née Ames) Hempstead. Mr. Hempstead grew up in Albany, and was close to his identical twin brother, Donald.

“Donny always felt his pain when Ronny had a problem,” said Mrs. Hempstead. The two ended up living one-tenth of a mile away from each other in Knox.

Mr. Hempstead came to Knox when he was 17, and worked on the Beckers’ farm before working for the Albany County Department of Public Works. Over 37 years, he worked his way up from a laborer, to operator, and finally to supervising foreman. Although he worked out of the DPW garage in Knox, he also would go to the department’s headquarters in Voorheesville to assist then-commissioner and now Westerlo Supervisor Richard Rapp.

Mr. Hempstead also worked part-time at his brother’s excavation company.

“He was a jack of all trades,” said Mrs. Hempstead. “You name it, he did it.”

Mr. and Mrs. Hempstead had been married for 47 years. They wed in February 1970, at the Knox Reformed Church, and then moved to Township Road in Knox and remained there since. They have two children. Their daughter, Amy Hempstead, said he was an excellent and caring father.

“I was his ‘Sissy Girl,’” she said, referring to his nickname for her. “I was his baby.”

“He was an amazing dad,” said his son, Paul Hempstead. “He’d do anything for you.”

Work kept Mr. Hempstead busy, but he would make time for his children, said his son.

“My sister and I knew, if there was a snowstorm on Christmas Day, we’d probably have to wait for our dad to open presents,” he said, since he’d be busy clearing roads.

But their father would instead stop by while working to let his children open their gifts, before returning to work.

The younger Mr. Hempstead said his father taught him many life skills, including how to drive by the age of 13 and how to operate machinery. Still, he often turned to his father when he knew he’d do it best, including a time when Ronald Hempstead, in his 60s, put it in a culvert pipe at Paul Hempstead’s home.

“He loved his grandkids,” he added “His grandkids were his world.”

“He was their Papa,” said Ms. Hempstead.

His son described how Mr. Hempstead would drive up in a John Deere tractor mower and hook up his grandkids’ Radio Flyer wagon to it, driving them for hours until they fell asleep at times.

After retiring, Mr. Hempstead preferred to stay at a camp in Pottersville, in Warren County, by Schroon Lake, where he would help maintain the grounds for the owners. Once a week in the summer, he would come down to work at the Altamont Fair. Mr. Hempstead first started because of a request from fair groundskeeper and building superintendent Ernest Ecker, but he also did it because it provided the money needed to buy his children new clothes for school. He first worked on the night crew to clean up the fairgrounds, and then the day crew. Later, he assisted his son, the fair’s parking superintendent, in parking cars at the fair, as did Mrs. Hempstead, his daughter, and his grandchildren.

“We park cars as a family,” said Mrs. Hempstead.

“One week a year, I was able to tell my mom and dad what to do,” his son said.

The younger Mr. Hempstead met his wife, Kimmy, at the fairgrounds, where she works as a security guard. When he brought her to meet his parents, he said she was afraid of meeting the gruff man who barked things into the radio at the fairgrounds. But she changed her mind after meeting the elder Mr. Hempstead.

“She said, ‘He is an absolutely amazing man,’” said his son. The two were enamored of each other since.

“It’s going to be hard working the fairgrounds this year, without my dad,” Paul Hempstead added. “If I had to do this all over again, there wouldn’t be another person in the world that I would want for my dad.”

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Mr. Hempstead is survived by his wife, Kathleen; his son, Paul Hempstead, and his wife, Kimmy; his daughter, Amy Hempstead, and her significant other, Chris Joslyn; his grandchildren, Derek and Dylan Hempstead, and Kara Joslyn; his siblings, Don Hempstead, and his wife, Dayle; Judy Frederick, and her husband, Bruce; Tim Hempstead, and his wife, Melinda Quilivan; and Maggie Darling, and her husband, Dale; and several nieces and nephews.

His sister, Etta Mae Bradley, died before him, as did his brothers, Manford, William, and Albert Hempstead; and his granddaughter, Marissa Joslyn.

Calling hours will be held on Thursday, June 22, from 5 to 8 p.m. at Fredendall Funeral Home on 199 Main Street, Altamont. A funeral service will take place on Friday, June 23, at 2 p.m. at the funeral home, with interment to follow in the Knox Cemetery.

Donations may be made in his memory to a charity of one's choice.

— H. Rose Schneider