Richard Gene Dyck

Richard was born in Wichita, Kansas, August 28, 1930 to the proud parents Mary L. and Emil Dyck. Emil Dyck worked for an oil field manufacturing company and his mother was a homemaker. They lived in Wichita until his father retired and moved back to Peabody, Kansas for Richard’s Junior and Senior years and graduation.

He went to work for the local furniture store and funeral home and qualified for the apprenticeship program to enter mortuary college. While at Kansas City Mortuary College he joined the Air Force Reserves. After he graduated and passed the board exams, his air force unit was activated and sent to Austin, Texas.

He worked in the Air Force Hospital in Austin in the radiology department and worked weekends in a local funeral home. His reserve unit was deactivated and he was offered a position in Austin, Texas. He made an appointment with the Texas Board for licensing through reciprocity and was informed he would have to go to a Texas school and take the state boards, no reciprocity.

Richard returned to the funeral business in Peabody, Kansas and enrolled in Wichita University. He met Kathryn Kerwitz in Peabody where she taught Home Economics at the local high school. They were married in Chanute, Kansas July 12, 1953. Richard graduated in 1955 with a B. S. in Business Administration and they moved to St. Louis, Mo., for Richard to work with IBM and Kathryn to work with the St. Louis school district. They started their family, and Richard graduated from Washington University Dental School and associated with a pediatric dentist in St. Louis. In December 1964 they moved to Beaumont, Texas for medical reasons and established their home and dental practice until 1996.

Richard and Kathryn were very active in the Beaumont community. Their home was the center for charitable groups, civic, and church organizations. They were active in the Mental Health Center, Cerebral Palsy Foundation, and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (two daughters were lost to this disease).

Their home was the center of their family and children’s lives. When the children were older, Kathryn went to work with Richard in the dental office.

They moved to Conroe, Texas for health reasons and enjoyed, through the church, many new friends and old friends who lived there. First Methodist Church Conroe, the Basic Sunday School Class, and many friends gave them the stability and acceptance that all desire.

Richard is survived by daughter Lynda Dianne Dyck, and sons Richard Gregory Dyck and Michael Carl Dyck. He is preceded in death by his wife Kathryn M. Dyck and two daughters Deborah Kay Dyck and Jennifer Ann Dyck.

Burial service will be at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Beaumont, Texas next to his wife and two daughters.

Richard wrote, “GOD sent Messengers or Angels to guide us, to constantly challenge us, and to open opportunities that we did not know even existed. We have failed some of God’s challenges, but God will judge our lives. May God have mercy on our souls.”