Richard Sterling Drake

Richard Sterling Drake was born on May 18, 1931 in Los Angeles, California and passed away at home on May 10, 2017 in Garden Grove, California, where he resided for the past 56 years. His family was by his side. He was 85 years old. He is survived by his children: Carrie (Jerry), Shirley (Terry), Gary, Richard and Lisa (Mark); ten Grandchildren, nineteen Great Grandchildren, nieces, nephews and friends of many. Preceded in death was his wife Carol of 48 years, his parents, three brothers and two sisters.

Richard was the youngest of six children. He graduated from Narbonne High School in 1949, latter enlisted in the Army and received an honorable discharge from the reserves in 1960. He attended Long Beach State and earned his teaching credentials, and was a member of Phi Kappa Tau. Richard worked hard at many jobs while raising a family. In his early years, he enjoyed riding motorcycles with his family and traveling with his wife on vacation to see his kids and grandkids and other family that lived out of town.

In 1996, he ended his teaching career of 37 years to enjoy retirement. He was a member of the Elks Lodge in San Pedro as was his father and brothers before him. Early in life, he had a passion for woodworking including building model airplanes. He joined several clubs; SAMS, Thermal Thumbers and SCAMPS where he met and shared many friendships with others who also shared his passion of building and flying model planes. He made over 450 planes and kept the stats on all of them. He completed a life long dream of flying in a glider over Tehachapi.

A visitation will take place on Thursday, May 25, 2017 from 5:00 to 8:00 pm in the Westminster Memorial Park Carolina Chapel. Services will be on Friday, May 26, 207 at 12:15 at Riverside National Cemetery in Riverside, California. Arrangements under the direction of Westminster Memorial Park, 14801 Beach Blvd. Westminster, CA 92683. (714) 893-2421