Richard Stanford Throckmorton

9/7/1933 – 3/30/2019

Rich was born in Los Angeles, a city which has gone through a lot of transitions in his 85 years of life. In contrast, he was a constant force of impeccable manners and morals, intelligence, integrity, ethics, loyalty, responsibility and generosity. He was a loving son, brother, father, husband, uncle, grandfather, great-grandfather and friend throughout his life; family was his first priority.

After graduating high school, he enlisted in the Army and served in Japan as a cryptographer. After finishing his service, he returned and started a family, about the same time he was accepted to UCLA. After finishing his degree, he started (and ended) his long career as an engineer with Litton Guidance and Control Systems, now Northrup-Grumman.

His favorite place to be was outdoors in the sunshine, gardening, washing his cars, visiting the beach, attending Santa Anita Racetrack, especially on opening day, and touring wineries in Paso Robles or Santa Ynez Valley. Most of all, he enjoyed drinking wine or his friday Manhattan on his patio with family and friends. He explored all of California, usually on road trips or via the train. An avid historian, he visited all the California Missions – more than once. His favorite city, by far, was San Francisco, where he indeed left his heart after watching Tony Bennett perform the iconic song.

Rich leaves behind his beloved wife of 26 years, Jody, as well as daughters Linda (Gary) Schoen, Cheryl Throckmorton, step-children Heather (Doug) Aitken, Matthew (Allie) Dodson and Lucas (Becky) Dodson. He is also survived by his grandchildren: Stephen Schoen, Jennifer (Nick) Simcox, Ashley Aitken, Christopher (Rachael) Aitken, Cody Aitken, Kelsey Aitken, Marin Thomas, Jake Dodson, Ocean Dodson, Chloe Dodson, Pearl Dodson, Lennox Dodson, Rowan Dodson, and Reed Dodson and great-grandchildren Liam Simcox, Jackson Aitken and Nora Aitken. His parents, Leland and Leota Throckmorton and sister Janet Throckmorton preceded him in death.

A celebration of his life will take place on Saturday, April 6th at their home. Visitors are welcome from 3pm and are invited to share their memories. In lieu of flowers, please support Alzheimer’s Association.