Richard Arlen Drew

On April 30, 2018 Richard Arlen Drew transitioned from the life we know, leaving those of us who knew him to feel great loss. And whether you knew him as Great-Grandpa, Grandpa, Dad, Dick, Dicky, Richard Arlen or Mr. Drew, meeting Richard Arlen Drew was sure to make an impression on you.The second of five children of James Ray and Hazel Constance Drew, Dick was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma on May 18, 1929. In talking about his admittedly feral childhood, he would say that when he was five or six years old, “they set a trap for me, put shoes on me, and made me go to school.” That rugged spirit, molded by the Oklahoma woods as seen through the eyes of the forming child, would come to define him throughout his life and become integral to the legacy of love for the Earth’s wildness that he would pass to his descendants.

While he had little use for titles, Dick Drew and his siblings were members of what’s been called the Greatest Generation, so Dick grew up during the Great Depression and the time of World War II. Too young to go to that war, Dick volunteered for the Marine Corps during the time of the Korean War, although he was ultimately not to be shipped overseas. Which, we always told him, was good news for us, his kids born after that time. He married Barbara Jean Fuller on April 16, 1949. She would be his beloved companion and fellow traveler during their 69 years of marriage. Together they would have three children. In his early adult life, Dick learned carpentry from his dad, working with him building houses across the Houston area. This trade would form Dick into the hard-working, self-made businessman the world would come to know – who made his place in the heavy-equipment industry, with his companies Drew Rentals and, later, Champion Crane and Tractor. It was at the helm of Champion Crane that Dick Drew would come to do business with companies in dozens of far-flung capitals around the world.

In his family life as in his business life, you never had to wonder where you stood with Dick Drew. He was tender and he was harsh. He was stern and he was breathtakingly empathetic. And at his best times, which were often, Dick’s sense of fun and humor shone brightly. His habit of not being able to finish telling a joke because of laughing too hard at the end of it would come to be a signature for him. Those of us who lived in that plentiful good humor will never forget it, and it will always be part of us. Richard Arlen Drew was a man if ever there was one: ruggedly brilliant, flawed, loving – human. We are all better for having known him. Mr. Drew is survived by his wife Barbara Jean Fuller Drew; son Glenn Arlen Drew and wife Ann Drew; daughter Constance Louise Drew; son Bradley Lawrence Drew and wife Yvonne Drew-Alvarez; his grandchildren Blake Arlen Drew and wife April Drew; Brett Lawrence Drew and wife Sharon Drew; and Brooks Cody Drew; and his great-grandchildren Madeline Drew, Brett Drew Jr., Taylor Drew, Alexa Drew and Ava Drew. In place of flowers, the family asks that you consider supporting the future of wild things on the Earth by donating to African Wildlife Foundation at awf.org. A memorial service will be held at Forest Park Lawndale Funeral Home Chapel of Angels at 10 a.m. Tuesday, May 8, 2018. All are welcome.