Ronald L. Wilson, MD

Ronald L. Wilson, M.D., born February 3, 1949, entered the presence of his Heavenly Father on July 27, 2025. Family and friends will gather Saturday, August 2, at First Woodway Baptist Church, 101 N. Ritchie Road. Visitation will begin at 9:00 a.m. and a service celebrating Ron’s life, his faith, and his service to the community will begin at 11:00 a.m. Burial will follow at Oakwood Cemetery. Pallbearers will be Stephen Chakmakjian, Caleb Chakmakjian, David Chakmakjian, Eric Wilson, Dan Headrick and Trey Wilson.

Ron was preceded in death by his parents, Robert Louis and Alyce Bledsoe Wilson.

He is survived by his wife of 52 years, Betty Evelyn Wilson; daughter and son-in-law, Jennifer and Stephen Chakmakjian, and their children, Katie, Caleb, and David; and son and daughter-in-law, John and Laura Wilson, and their children, Noelle and Luke. Survivors also include his sister and her husband, Bobbye and Mark Kassing; brother and his wife, Doug and Dee Wilson; brother-in-law and his wife, David and Mary Beth Wilson; and sister-in-law and her husband, Jane Wilson and Bill Hashop.

Ron graduated from Baylor University in 1971 and Baylor College of Medicine in 1974, both with honors. He and Betty married on September 1, 1973. Following graduation from Baylor College of Medicine, Ron completed his Internal Medicine Residency and Nephrology Fellowship at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. Ron joined the USAF Medical faculty where he was a Clinical Nephrologist as well as the Director of the Transplant Immunology Laboratory and Director of Hemodialysis.

In 1983 Marty Flanagan and Ron established hemodialysis units at the Medical Arts Clinic in Corsicana and Ennis, Texas. This was a significant undertaking – starting with nothing and turning it into two federally approved inpatient and outpatient hemodialysis units. His time establishing and maintaining the hemodialysis units with Marty Flanagan, Kathy Satsky, Anna Arnold Mize and others was the most rewarding time of medical care for Ron. Thank you, Marty, and everyone else who helped during this time. After practicing in Corsicana for eleven years, Ron joined Central Texas Nephrology Associates in 1994 as a Clinical Nephrologist where he practiced nephrology in Waco for 20 years. During this time, he also taught in the Family Practice Residency program. Many of those physicians are practicing in Waco today. In 2013 he retired from the practice of Nephrology saying, “35 years of being on call was enough."

In 2013 Glenn Robinson, Administrator of Hillcrest Hospital, asked Ron to start an Internal Medicine outpatient clinic within the Hillcrest system in Waco. There were no office Internal Medicine physicians at Hillcrest, with most primary care being done by Family Practice physicians, Nurse Practitioners, and Physician Assistants. Ron agreed to help establish this outpatient clinic, committing five years to help do so. He found he greatly enjoyed being an office General Internist, and ended up practicing for seven years, finally retiring from practicing medicine after 46 years. For Ron, medicine wasn’t just a profession or career but a calling and a ministry. He always said that he “loved being a doc.”

Ron attended Southern Arkansas State (now University) on a basketball scholarship. He met Christ at a Baptist Student Union retreat there as a freshman before transferring to Baylor University as a sophomore in the spring of 1970, a notable year as he met his wife, Betty, and began his dedication to Baylor University. Ron served Baylor in several capacities: a professor, a member of the College of Arts and Sciences Advisory Board and the Robbins College Advisory Board, and as a Regent on the Baylor Board of Regents from 2010 to 2019.

Ron loved the Lord and his church, serving as a deacon, Sunday School teacher and director, and choir member in churches in San Antonio, Corsicana, and Waco. His life was one of service to his Lord, his family, his patients, his friends, and to Baylor University.

In lieu of flowers contributions may be made to The Ronald L. and Betty E. Wilson National Merit Scholarship Fund at Baylor University or The Deans’ Excellence Fund at Robbins College of Health and Human Sciences at Baylor University, both at One Bear Place #97026 Waco, TX 76798. They may also be made to the Waco Family Medicine Foundation 1600 Providence Drive Waco, TX 76707 or the charity of your choice.

The family invites you to leave a message or memory of Ron in his "Memorial Guestbook" at www.WHBfamily.com.