Richard James Willsey

Richard J. (Dick) Willsey left his earthly home Friday morning, November 11, 2016, at his residence in Selah, WA. He was born April 29, 1936, in Swedish Hospital, Seattle, WA to Charles Eugene and Ethyl E. (Paulson) Warter. Dick’s parents had lost two infant daughters, and he was very precious to them.

Dick’s parents separated when he was five, and officially divorced when he was eight; he and his mother went to live with his maternal grandparents on their Kennewick homestead farm. The home later became the first Boy Scout office in Kennewick. When Dick was ten, his mother remarried a widower, James Orion Willsey, who had a nine year old son, Dan O. Willsey. A few years later, Orion and Ethel co-adopted their two sons, and Dick was officially given the name of Richard James Willsey.

Dick was raised in Yakima, WA; he attended Roosevelt Grade School, Franklin Junior High, and graduated from Yakima High in 1955. His secondary education was received at YVC, and the University of Washington.

Always an outdoor person, he loved the mountains, the ocean, hunting, hiking, fishing and boating. He had a careful, thoughtful, artistic eye and excelled in woodworking. In his early years, Dick loved jeeping, and treasured his first Willy’s jeep which he purchased from his Uncle Carl Baldacci. In the early 1970’s Dick joined with popular hiking groups of the time, and reached the summit of Mount Adams twice. (In high school, he and a friend skipped school one day, and hiked through the snow, several miles to the closed gate of Chinook Pass!)

In the 1960’s, while working as a mortgage loan officer at Sherwood & Roberts, Yakima, he met Sally Jane Kooser, and they were married in December of that year. Married eight years, with no children, they divorced in early 1969. A series of successful years followed for Dick, and he went to work for Clark Jennings and Associates, eventually becoming a Vice President of the firm. Clark and Dick were good friends as well as business associates. As Dick expanded in the real estate business, he also developed orchard property, and other properties. Dick was a forty year member of the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers; also, a forty year member of the Elks Club, giving generously to their charities.

In 1977, Dick met Cheri Ann Weigand, and they married in April of 1978. To this union, three children were born, Wendi Ann, Richard Clark, and Keri Leone. They are the pride, and real love of his life. Cheri and Dick divorced, after thirteen years of marriage, and Dick went to work at the Yakima County Assessor Office as the Lead Agricultural Appraiser. It was while working in that capacity he met Linda Rossignol; they married and spent the next 25 years together. Dick was a devoted husband and father; a consummate hard worker, and had a gentle, loving heart.

The apple market dropped severely in the late 1980’s, which proved to be the end of Dick’s orchard career; he rallied, and spent nineteen years with Yakima County, not retiring until age 74.

Dick was a strong man physically, and he worked hard for over 60 years. Many years later he could trace his early newspaper delivery routes in the Barge-Chestnut area; bagging groceries and stocking shelves at Safeway; the lawns he mowed; and working for Gray & Osborne Consulting Engineers of Yakima, drafting, surveying various streets, curb and gutter, and other municipal improvement projects in Yakima.

Dick served on active duty in the United States Army, at Fort Ord, CA, and six years in the reserves, obtaining the rank of Staff Sergeant. He was a man of many talents, who will be greatly missed by his wife Linda, his children Wendi Willsey Bixler; Rick (Rachel) Willsey, and Keri Willsey. Also, his step-children, Michele Pescador and Richard Huebner, and grandchildren Trinity, Richard Trent, Lauren, Kailey, Madeline and Nathan, who will all miss Grandpa Dick. He is further survived by his faithful companion, Patches, who looks for him daily! He was preceded in death by his parents, Orion and Ethel Willsey; his brother Dan O. Willsey of California, and two baby sisters.

The family would like to extend our thanks to Dick’s Avail caregivers Amy and Cindy, who took such good care of him these past three months, and the kind staff of Memorial Hospice, especially his RN Julia, and social worker, Theresa.

“Some bright morning, when this life is over, I’ll fly away! To that home on God’s celestial shore, I’ll fly away! I’ll fly away, Oh Glory! I’ll fly away in the morning! When I die, Hallelujah bye and bye, I’ll fly away!”

Funeral Services will be held on Saturday, November 19, 2016 at Keith & Keith Funeral Home at 10 a.m. immediately followed with burial at West Hills Memorial Park.

To share a memory of Dick, please visit www.keithandkeith.com.