A Home After The Sunset

The sun provides for us. Its rays shower us with warmth and allow for the plant and animal life on this planet to survive and to thrive. One person, in particular, credits the sun with his own success in life. Ron Rice, you see, is the founder of the Hawaiian Tropic brand of suntan lotions. And at age 75, he is preparing for the setting of the sun on this life he has led.

Just north of Daytona Beach, Florida is the community of Ormond Beach. It is in this small community that Rice has just completed the construction of his 6 crypt mausoleum for himself, his ex-wife, and his daughter. He explains the three additional crypts are reserved for any future grandchildren provided him by his daughter. 

“My eternal home looks a lot like my home on the beach,” Rice explained to Jim Haug of the News-Journal. This is because the North Carolina-sourced granite used to build the Rice Mausoleum is the same granite Rice used in for the construction of his beach home in Ormond Beach. The additional granite remaining from his home construction is going to be used to build up the walls of his mausoleum, inscribing the names of close friends in calligraphy.

“Everybody can come visit me and visit their stone,” he said.

Completed in the late spring of this year, Rice claims he wanted to plan and build his mausoleum prior to his own death in order to save his survivors the burden of taking on the responsibility themselves. “I don’t want Sterling to have to worry about anything,” he explained.

Lauding Rice and family for their willingness to plan ahead, family services advisor for Volusia Memorial Park, Eric Flores, stated, “It takes courage. Families don’t like to have the conversation. So they put their head in the sand and wait until the time comes.”

“It’s often the loved ones or family members who have to do all the arranging,” Flores added. “To pre-plan really brings a lot less anxiety to the family. It’s really a gift of love.”