Dr. Ronald Nelson Hesser

Class of 1965

Ron Hesser, who was active in 4-H and sports while attending Perry schools, graduated from Perry High School in 1965. He then graduated from Oklahoma State University in 1969 with a bachelor’s degree in Physiology, followed by his 1973 graduation with honor from Baylor College of Dentistry. He was named the outstanding US Air Force dental intern at Eglin AFB, Florida, in 1974, and went on to become an Air Force major and a dental surgeon at Kingsley Field, Oregon. He was in private practice in general dentistry in Klamath Falls, Oregon, from 1977 to 1990.

In Klamath Falls, Hesser was an elder and board chairman of Shasta Way Christian Church, 1977-1980, and a co-founder and elder of Living Word Fellowship, 1981-1990, and he was ordained in 1985 as a minister. He founded and was president of Klamath Revival Association, 1985-1990, which held large citywide crusades and was co-founder of Hosanna Christian School, Klamath Falls, 1989-90.

From 1990 to 2018, Hesser was a dentist in Poteau, Oklahoma. He was a co-founder and pastor at Hosanna Christian Fellowship Church, Poteau, 1981-1999, and authored a book, The Pharisee In Us All.

Hesser is a co-founder and president of Crio International, a missions support ministry, starting in 1999 and continuing to the present. After having visited Africa 12 times, Hesser now oversees and manages nearly 1,000 churches in 32 nations of Africa, has bought land and built over 500 churches, drilled nine wells, operates 24 preschools, 11 elementary schools, three high schools, 18 Bible colleges, one teacher college, one junior college, one school of missions, and one school of midwifery; is an affiliate of Oral Roberts University; has built and operates seven orphanages in five nations; and provides medical care, daily food, clothing, shelter, and school fees for over 150 orphans.

Crio was selected in 2013 from among 500 different nominees around the world for an Epoch Award. The Epoch Awards existed to honor unsung heroes and missions innovators.

Ron and his wife, Janice, have three children and eight grandchildren, and currently live in Oklahoma City.