Bishop Heelan, community rally behind senior at time of great loss

As the final days of high school tick down, one senior at Bishop Heelan High School in Sioux City reflected on how happy he is his parents – now both deceased - chose a Catholic education for him.

Ronnie Vedin, a senior at Bishop Heelan who has been a part of the school system since he was in kindergarten, has witnessed through the years how the school family has rallied around those with struggles big and small. 

“I’ve seen how the school community has come together to help people out in times of need,” he said. 

In the last year, Vedin has experienced the school family’s support in numerous ways during the most challenging times of his life when in less than a year’s time, both of his parents died. 

“Just knowing that people were there for me definitely helped in comforting me,” said Vedin, who attended Mater Dei Grade School. “It felt like I wasn’t alone.”

Despite not being Catholic, he pointed out that the faith dimension of the school was always important to him and his parents – and now more than ever. His mother was a graduate of O’Gorman High School in Sioux Falls.

His father Ronald (Dino) died on March 24, 2024, about six months after being diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Less than a year later, the student’s mother Amy died on Feb. 11, 2025, at age 55 of cardiovascular disease.

Vedin mentioned that it was in late 2022/early 2023 when family members began to notice changes in his father such as with slurred speech.

“He was kind of stubborn and didn’t like going to doctors so it was the following September when we had a big family reunion and my aunt told him to get to the doctor now,” recalled the Heelan senior. That’s when Dino went to the doctor first in Sioux City and was referred to Omaha where the diagnosis of ALS was made.

For a few months Vedin said his father held fairly steady – able to walk, drive, eat - but by January there had been a significant decline.

“That’s the point where me and my mom really started taking care of him,” said Vedin. “And my mom had arthrRonnie Vedin with his parents Amy and Dino.itis in both knees so I was taking care of both of them at once. It was kind of difficult juggling school and everything.”

By the end of February his father was hospitalized and then was placed in a nursing home. Dino died less than a month later when Vedin was a junior at Bishop Heelan.

Chris Bork, principal of Bishop Heelan High School, explained Dino was a “Sioux-lebrity” with local hockey fans having been the Zamboni driver for the Sioux City Musketeers.

When Dino died there was an outpouring from not only the school community, but the Musketeer community as well as his church, Trinity Lutheran in Sioux City.

Less than 11 months later, Vedin again received an outpouring of support from the Bishop Heelan school family and beyond when his mother died. While she had ongoing health issues due to cardiovascular disease, he mentioned her death at this time wasn’t expected.

“It was still kind of a shock,” he said. “It was definitely not one we had seen coming.”

Vedin said he is aware that the community does rally around those who have a death of a parent or family member, “but it was just crazy the amount of people who were willing to help out and do stuff. It was a little overwhelming at first – especially after both deaths but knowing people were there to pick me up off the ground at the worst points of my life really helped me out.”

While he does have a half-sister, Vedin is the only child of his mother and her family lives in Sioux Falls and Mitchell, South Dakota.

The very day Vedin’s mother died, school officials rallied around him and conversation with them as well as his family included his hope to finish out the school year at Heelan where his greatest involvement has been with band – jazz band, marching band, pep band – as a trombone player. To leave the school and his friends, some since kindergarten, would have been very difficult at the time.

“I only had three months left of schools, so why try to switch now. The biggest issue was no one wanted me to live alone and I didn’t want to live alone either,” he said.

Knowing most of his family was up in South Dakota, the Bishop Heelan principal reached out to his wife Amy and suggested they have Vedin live with them for his final months of the school year. Bork’s wife, whom he descried “as an absolute saint,” was on board right away.

“Ronnie just needed a bridge,” said Bork, to get from his mother’s death through graduation. “My wife and I were empty nesting; my daughter is in grad school in Lincoln and my son is a freshman at the University of Sioux Falls. And we have two dogs.”

The principal said he and his wife “play a minimal role.” They oversee some of his daily tasks – makes sure he eats, sleeps and gets to school. He stressed it is the student’s grandmother Judy Gohl as well as aunts and uncles – Gregg and JJ Gohl and Eric and Pam Gohl – who play a vital role of support.

“He has a wonderful family,” stressed Bork. “They are a wonderful group of people – incredibly supportive who have worked hard to see that Ronnie is taken care of, successful and supported. They have been down for his band concerts, call him every day.” 

Communicating with the family regularly, the principal said is a nice bonus has been in making friends in the Sioux Falls area.

Although the student and his parents had lived in the same neighborhood as the Borks and they had watched him grow up, the principal said they didn’t know him well.

“Ronnie is a good student who doesn’t get in trouble, so our interactions at school were minimal,” the principal explained. 

Bork mentioned that his two children were more into sports, but his wife had been in band.

He now jokes with his wife, “You always wanted a band kid, this is way easier than raising one from scratch.”

The principal acknowledged the attention and accolades brought to him and his wife for taking Vedin in “have been a little embarrassing. We just did it to support Ronnie. That’s all we wanted out of it. My reward will be when he crosses the stage, moves out of my basement and into Augustana - to be successful.”

Having the opportunity to finish school at Bishop Heelan, noted Vedin, “has meant the worldRonnie was voted prom king at Bishop Heelan High School. to me. I’ve accomplished way more than I thought I would, to be honest. I was just voted prom king last weekend and I received a Kind World Scholarship. It’s been a lot.”

He will use the Kind World Foundation Scholarship, offered through the Siouxland Community Foundation, to attend Augustana College in Sioux Falls. He plans to study multimedia entrepreneurship and broadcasting. For several years, the student has broadcast Musketeer games on his own YouTube channel.

Already having a couple Augustana T-shirts, Bork cautioned him about wearing them in the house when his son – a Sioux Falls University football player - is around because “he could feel what it’s like to be a little brother in a heartbeat.”

Graduation is just around the corner and various members of the administration are continuing to offer support to Vedin as they help plan his graduation party. 

“People have been willing to do just about anything in order for me to succeed, not just by graduating, but later on in life,” said Vedin. “It’s humbling.”

With that in mind, relatives of Vedin established the Vedin Memorial Fund to help with his future and educational expenses. You can give online at paypal.me/vedinmemorialfund or send a check to Vedin Memorial Fund, 2222 S. Main Ave., Sioux Falls, SD 57105.

He called the Borks incredible.

“It feels like I am at my own home,” said Vedin, who will move to Sioux Falls following graduation.