A memorial service is planned on March 22 at 4:00 PM at Calvin Presbyterian Church, Tigard, Oregon. A reception is planned immediately following at Oswego Lake Country Club. A graveside service will be at 3 P.M. at Willamette National Cemetery in Portland on March 21 with full military honors.
Dick was born in Washington D.C. on January 10, 1926. He was an Eagle Scout, and a member of The Order of the Arrow. He graduated Cum Laude from Catonsville High School in Catonsville Maryland. He graduated Cum Laude from Pennsylvania State College in State College, Pennsylvania with a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering. He attended the Wharton School of The University of Pennsylvania, and is a graduate of The Executive Management School of Carnegie Mellon University. He was valedictorian of his graduating class there. Dick was a member of the Delta Chi social fraternity, and was a member of Tau Beta Pi, Sigma Tau, and Tau Epsilon honorary engineering fraternities.
Dick served with the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division of The United States Army Paratroopers during World War II. He parachuted into Normandy on D-Day, parachuted again into Holland, and then fought in the Battle of The Bulge, where he received a battlefield commission. His military awards include the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, the Parachute Infantry Wings with Two Gold Stars, the Army Good Conduct Medal, the European Operations Medal, the Belgium Foraguerre, the French Foraguerre, the Netherlands Orange Lanyard, the Combat Infantry Badge, the Army of Occupation Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, and a Presidential Citation.
In 1949, Dick joined Babcock & Wilcox, a worldwide designer and manufacturer of Large Steam Boilers, Nuclear Reactors and Large Power Plant Equipment. He served with Babcock & Wilcox for 42 years progressing to a Sales & Marketing executive in the fossil and nuclear power arena. He was a Registered Professional Engineer and he was very proud of this. Dick and his family moved to Lake Oswego in 1975 where Dick was responsible for the sales and marketing of all of Babcock & Wilcox’s products and services in the Pacific Northwest. Dick was very active in the development of Nuclear Power in The Pacific Northwest.
Throughout his life Dick enjoyed golf, sailing, all kinds of cars, bridge and traveling. He was a great believer in professionalism, and positivism, and coined this phrase within his Company for many years.
Dick is survived by son Scott A. Bernhard and his wife Deborah of Spokane Washington, his daughter Meredith B. Smith of Roseburg Oregon, and three grandchildren Krissy, Desiree and Scott Jr.
Contributions to the memory of Dick can be made to The American Cancer Society or The American Lung Association.
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