Richard (Dick) Hale Hamilton

Richard (Dick) Hale Hamilton passed away Sunday morning, September 28, 2014, following a heart attack the previous week. He was born in Yakima, June 7, 1927 to Percy and Ann Hamilton, the oldest of two sons.

Richard graduated from Yakima High School in 1945 and attended Yakima Valley Community College the following year. In 1946, he was drafted into the Army and served in the 8th Cavalry Regiment until the end of World War II.

Following an early discharge, he returned home, attended Perry Institute and played his organ for evangelistic rallies around the Northwest. He was drafted again into the Army in 1951 for the Korean War and served in the Signal Corps until honorably discharged in 1953.

In October 1953 Richard married Ione Laupp, also of Yakima, and resided in Hayward and Fremont, CA for the next twenty years while working for PIE Trucking, Spectromagnetics and Varian Associates. He returned to Yakima, WA with his family in 1973 and has lived there since. Before his retirement he worked for National Barricade, Inland Electric (CED) and, finally, the Yakima School District as a bus driver.

Richard was known as a naturally gifted musician throughout his life, playing both the organ and piano for family, friends and church. He also enjoyed lending a hand with construction projects and home repairs to anyone who needed help.

Richard was preceded in death by his wife, Ione, in 1995 and his brother, Paul, in 2005.

He is survived by his second wife, Caroline Hamilton, his four children, Ken Hamilton and Nancy, Karen Young and Greg, Kristi Ensign and Scott, Kevin Hamilton and Cristi, and step daughter, Sherry Milton and Robert, as well as seventeen grandchildren.

A memorial service is scheduled for 11:30 am, Saturday, October 4, 2014 at Ahtanum Pioneer Church, 8503 Ahtanum Rd., Yakima. Richard will be laid to rest at West Hills Memorial Park in a private family graveside service.

To share a memory go to www.keithandkeith.com.

Arrangements under the direction of Keith & Keith Funeral Home, Yakima, WA.