When a rocket lands in a front yard, it’s going to catch some eyes.

At nearly 9-feet tall, Ron DeGroat’s wooden rocket replica has become an unofficial Sequim attraction along West Cedar Street in recent years, causing cars to slow down and people to seek snapshots.

“Every so often, I notice people taking a picture,” said the 66-year-old woodworker from his garage shop.

“You should have seen the reaction on the trick-or-treaters’ faces when one kid told me he liked my rocket,” DeGroat said. He asked the youngster if he wanted to fly it, and the boy’s mouth dropped.

At the rocket’s base rests an old car rim with about 60 pounds of cement holding down his replica of the Saturn V, prominent for its use by NASA from 1967-1973.

Despite a record amount of takeoffs from the real rocket, DeGroat’s model stays in his front yard year round because “it’s hard to move.”

“After I painted it, it took three of us to move it from the garage to the front yard,” he said.

DeGroat has held an interest in woodworking most of his life, including in his high school shop classes in Southern California. He began carving wood scraps while living in Utah prior to moving to Sequim in 1987 where woodworking was part hobby and essential.

Following a divorce, he came to the city with his two sons and few belongings, so he began building items such as shelves and entertainment centers. Over the years, that grew into turning fallen fences into decorative boxes, building his own wood shed and designing wooden lighthouses.

For his rocket, he started building it about six years ago after visiting his oldest son Joshua in Las Vegas.

“I was thinking about making a plane for the front yard, like the Spirit of St. Louis or a Piper Cub, but it was a whole lot easier to make a rocket from scratch than an airplane,” DeGroat said.

“You’ve got to shape it just right, so I started playing with the idea of a rocket.”

Fly high

If not obvious from the large rocket in his front yard, DeGroat says he’s always liked things that fly.

“Since I was a kid, I built a zillion plastic models and a few planes out of balsa wood,” he said.

The centerpiece art in his living room is a wooden frame he made holding a poster of the first flight of the Wright brothers.

“I always liked Saturn V,” he said. “That was one big (rocket).”

The wooden replica took him several months to build. He’s unsure just when during the process he decided to dedicate it to his late son Michael Ross DeGroat, who died at age 22.

On the rocket are Michael’s initials, birth date and day of death.

“It’s my personal tribune,” he said.

DeGroat’s oldest son, Joshua, lives in Southern California, while DeGroat lives alone with his terrier/pug mix Dee in Sequim.

Woodworker Ron DeGroat dedicated his wooden rocket to his late son Michael Ross DeGroat. He calls the model a tribute to his son. Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash

Finding light

Now semi-retired from a sheet rock installation career, DeGroat has worked numerous jobs in his 30-plus years, from cooking to working as a mechanic to housekeeping. The woodworking served as a stress reliever.

“I think a lot of it is getting lost in the project,” he said.

DeGroat recalls his late mother calling him to pick her up for an appointment, which he forgot because he was so focused on his woodworking.

“A freight train could have gone through the living room and I wouldn’t have heard it,” he said.

Despite his talent, DeGroat remains modest, joking that he “makes firewood” from his hobby. But one of his specialties is making lighthouses like one that sits a few feet east of his rocket.

His first came after Michael died. In the past year, he made a jig to produce multiple lighthouses. All but two were claimed or sold. One lighthouse sold to a neighbor for a haircut and the cost of materials.

DeGroat said he has a tendency to make his projects with his own interpretation.

“Kind of like the rocket, it’s understandably a rocket,” he said. “This is understandably a lighthouse.”

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, DeGroat said he planned to place many of the lighthouses in his trunk bed and sell them during festivals, but that was put on hiatus. He has patterns available to build more. (Those interested in a lighthouse can call DeGroat at 360-683-9018.)

In the meantime, DeGroat’s workbench is dedicated to a special project that he says tackles three things in one — a spirit house, tree house, and post-and-beam house. He thought it up while recovering from surgery in August.

“I have no idea how I’m going to paint it though with so many nooks,” DeGroat said.

Shortly after building his first lighthouse, Ron DeGroat felt he needed a lighthouse keeper’s home, so he built one for his front yard. Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash

A large lighthouse brightens Ron DeGroat’s living room that he built in recent years. He’s made smaller versions with a few still available. Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash