Richard was born August 25, 1935 in Hannastown, PA. He grew up in Southern West Virginia, Lerona. He joined the Air Force in 1953 and attained the rank of Staff Sergeant where he served as Crew Chief on B36 & B52’s.
Richard married Marlene “Gay” Petrak in Spokane, WA on August 19, 1957, while he was stationed in Washington State. They were married for over 60 years. He got out of the Air Force in 1957 and they moved back to WV where he went to school and graduated from Concord College in Athens, WV with a B.S. in Biology in 1960. Richard taught biology at Princeton, High School. He was then recruited and became an agent in Naval Investigative Services, CNIS. His first duty station was the Naval Shipyard in Washington, DC in 1962. In 1968 he became one of the few polygraph agents in NIS. As an agent Richard traveled Eastern US, Europe, and the Far East. In 1979 he was Special Agent in Charge at Cherry Point, NC. His last duty station was at Norfolk Naval Base where he retired in 1985. Richard moved back to New Bern and taught Criminal Justice, Sold Real Estate and eventually started a business in one of his passions – Restoring Corvettes.
He is survived by his wife, Gay; his daughter, Diana; and his two sons, Richard and Mark.
A service to Celebrate Richard's Life will be held at 12:00 pm on Thursday, June 21, 2018 at Cotten Funeral Home. The family will receive friends from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm in Cotten's Chapel. Burial will take place at 11 am on Saturday, June 23, 2018 at Athens Cemetery in Athens, WV.
In lieu of flowers donations in Richard's name can be made to the American Cancer Society.
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