Richard Lincoln French

Richard L. (Peewee, Frenchie) French born May 1, 1934 in Conway, New Hampshire, died June 7, 2011. The second son of Edwin and Ruth (Garrett) French formerly of Conway, Rich was a born athlete spending his young life enjoying many sports and skiing until a decade ago when he was willing but his knees weren’t.

At the age of 14, Richard was chosen to be the lead in a Department of State film from “The Voices of America” series titled, “The Conway Boy which was translated into 27 different languages and distributed to non-Russian blocked countries. The 30-minute film was shot over the course of a year depicting the average day in the life of a typical teenager and his family. Rich served in the Army Security Agency from 1952-1954. He taught pilots to ski under wartime consequences, Germany to Switzerland.

Dick was a tool design engineer at Hanford before his retirement. He especially enjoyed spending time with the “Troopers” at hunting camp. He also loved to fish where the biggest fish stories were not always about trout. His storytelling and sense of humor will be greatly missed.

He is survived by his wife, Christine Vining-French; daughters Jan (Steve) Hyatt of Covington, and Jerri (Bryan) Linse of Cowiche; a sister, Joyce Glenn of Prescott Valley, AZ; a sister-in-law Carolyn French of West Lake Village, CA; an uncle, Robert French of Eaton Center, NH; four grandchildren Kellan, Garrett, Jennifer and Jaime; stepchildren Sheldon Starnes of Long Beach, CA and Tonyia Vining of Seattle; step-grandchildren A.J. and Sasha Christine. He leaves a large number of beloved nieces, nephews and adopted grandchildren, Andrew, Bryan, Emily, Brandon, Enzo, Quin, Dawn, Zoe, Eduardo, Kevin and his sweet BC (Black Cat).

The family thanks ER Nurse Anita; staff and caregivers at the Cedar Hills facility and his hunting buddy, Jim Button.

To share of memory of Richard, visit www.langevin-mussetter.com.

A Celebration of Life will be held at the Starlighter Apartments June 18, 2011 from 2:00 p.m–5:00 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, donations in his name may be made to Northstar Lodge or Children’s Village c/o Langevin-Mussetter Funeral Home, 1010 W. Yakima Ave., Yakima, WA 98902.

Richard L. (Peewee, Frenchie) French

CHANGE OF LOCATION

The location for Dick’s Celebration of Life on Saturday, June 18, 2011 has been changed. The Celebration of Life has been changed to Milroy Park--corner of No. 16th Ave. & W. Lincoln Ave., Yakima, WA. We hope to see his friends and relatives join us between the hours of 2:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.

Arrangements under the direction of Langevin-Mussetter Funeral Home, Yakima, WA.