RV/MH Hall of Famer and former board member Ronald P. “R.P.” Younkin passed away surrounded by family on July 6, 2025. He was 83 years old.
Younkin’s son, Brian, said families—whether it was his own or the families of friends, business acquaintances or customers—were important to Ronald Younkin.
“The RV business is a fun business,” he said. “Buying an RV is normally a joyous thing for people. They know they are going to use it to spend time together as a family. I think that is why Dad always enjoyed the business so much.”
Ronald Younkin followed in the footsteps of his parents, who both are Hall of Famers. He worked in the RV and manufactured home industries to take the family’s Greenlawn Companies to new heights. He returned to the family business after serving in Korea.
Ronald Younkin and his wife, Linda, acquired the company in 1981. The couple’s three sons—Brett, Brian and Ronald—now oversee Greenlawn Companies. The sons officially took over the business in January 2022.
“Back when my grandfather (Floyd Younkin) started, the two industries were very much intertwined,” Brian Younkin said. “They were almost one in the same, but then they started to branch off from each other. We took about a 15-year hiatus from the RV industry as we were developing communities around the Columbus (Ohio) area.”
Brian Younkin said the abundance of used trailers needed after Hurricane Katrina brought the family back to the RV industry. He said his father was happy to know that RVs were once again a priority for the family. All three of Ronald Younkin’s children work in some capacity with the family’s Greenlawn RV dealership, which has two Ohio locations.
“We are looking to grow,” Brian Younkin said. “We just bought 20 acres that is contiguous to the RV property. We just built a new service building (in Lockbourne, Ohio), and we are in the process of designing a new sales center.”
After his children took on day-to-day business management of the company, Ronald Younkin still made regular appearances at the office. Ronald Younkin started to enjoy retirement and his time away from the office more and more before a heart procedure in November 2023 caused a stroke. His son said he never fully recovered.
“The stroke really changed the direction of his life those last few years,” Brian Younkin said. “He could not talk extensively, but he could understand what we were saying. If we brought up business stuff to him, his eyes would perk up, and he would get this little smile on his face. I could tell he was so proud of the fact that things were going in the right direction.”
His son said Ronald Younkin enjoyed sharing cliches, and one of his favorites was, “Set your goal, plan your work, work your plan.”
Brian Younkin said, “I think that was his goal. He put the plan in place. Unfortunately, he never got to visit the new building, but he did know about it. We showed him pictures.”
Ronald Younkin sat on the Ohio Manufactured Housing Association board and was a past president of the Manufactured Housing Institute. He was inducted into the RV/MH Hall of Fame in 2006.
He is survived by his wife Linda (Cianelli); their three sons, Ronald (Ellen), Brian (Bonnie) and Brett (Leslie) Younkin; grandchildren Joseph, Keagan, Cara, Molly, Natalie and Austin Younkin, Erica Brizendine (Grace Loflin), Emmett Brizendine and Elayna (Joseph) Tomko; great-grandchildren Eloise, Huxley and Koda; sisters Janice (Robert) Benjamin, Scarlett (Thomas) Ebenhack; and cousins D. Michael (Catherine) Dunkle and June Dunkle.
Memorial contributions can be made to the Floyd E. and Mary Irene Younkin Scholarship Fund of the Pickaway County Community Foundation, 770 North Court Street, Circleville, Ohio 43113.
