Trails of good actions lead back to Claudon, Auburn Reporter’s 2014 Person of the Year

Published 2:15 pm Tuesday, December 30, 2014

He is one of the quiet ones, likes to serve from behind the scenes, do his thing without a blare of trumpet or whisper of vainglory.

“Mr. Claudon doesn’t like publicity,” a front office person at Valley GMC Buick at first responded to a reporter’s request for an interview.

That is true.

Fortunately for Auburn, where Ron Claudon prefers to say as little as possible about himself, trails of good actions lead back to him from all over the city.

Like the time he volunteers every week on behalf of Communities in Schools of Auburn to read to a third- or fourth-grade student who is struggling with his or her schoolwork.

Or the board positions he has held over the years with the Auburn Valley YMCA and the Auburn Area Chamber of Commerce, and his 28 years of membership with the Kiwanis Club of Auburn.

Or of services quietly rendered to advisory committees of the Auburn School District and Green River Community College, and annual donations to St. James Cathedral, the Auburn Food Bank, Auburn Youth Resources and Skills, Inc.

For these reasons, and many more, the Auburn Reporter has named the Auburn native and second-generation owner of Valley GMC Buick, Inc. its 2014 Person of the Year.

As might have been expected, the news of such an honor embarrassed him a bit.

“There are so many others out there doing more things than I do for the community,” he said.

Claudon, who attended North Auburn — now Dick Scobee — and Lea Hill elementary schools and Cascade Junior High before graduating from Auburn High School in 1978, went off to Washington State University and earned a bachelor’s degree in business in 1982.

After working in banking and construction for a year, he came back to the Auburn dealership his father and two partners had founded 19 years earlier, where he rose from office manager to sales manager to general manager and, in 1993, to dealer.

One of his father’s original partners still owns a stake in the business, and Claudon’s own wife and son work there, too.

He was a nominee for Time Dealer of the Year in 2014, a program that honors new-car dealers in America who exhibit exceptional performance in their dealerships and perform distinguished community service.

“I started working for my father in 1974 washing floors, and then I sold cars while in college,” Claudon said. “Relationships with employees and customers over the years have been by far the most meaningful achievement of my career. I take pride in the 90-plus people we employ and watching them grew and learn. Some leave to find other pursuits, others stay for a career.

“… My folks have passed away now, but they were longtime supporters of our community and passed on their love of Auburn to myself and our children,” Claudon said. “I’m very appreciative that our children have decided to return to the community where my wife (Lori) and I raised them, to live here and raise families of their own.”