The following is the eulogy presented at Bill Rishardson's funeral on September 15, 2014.  The eulogy was given by Joel Schneggenbuger, Bill's son-in-law.

Action:  Bang the Gavel

This meeting will come to order.

Bill Richardson made this gavel and he used it during his tenure of leadership at the Masonic Lodge in Garden Grove.  Bill was an accomplished craftsman.  He had a small workshop in his garage where he made similar gavels for other leaders at the lodge and made Christmas crafts that he would sell with his wife, Jan, at their holiday boutique.  There's an old saying that bad carpenters can only count to nine.  Well, by definition, Bill was a good carpenter, because he could still count to ten.

Today I have the honor of speaking about my father-in-law, William Montelle Richardson.  He was known to his friends and co-workers as Bill or Rich and to his family as son, brother, uncle, husband, dad, grandpa, and great-grandpa.  Also, on an old college photo of Bill, someone gave him another title; they wrote across the top “The Brain”.  

Bill was smart.  He earned an electrical engineering degree from New Mexico State University and then went on to work for Douglas Aircraft and McDonnell Douglas for the next 40 years.  When I first met Bill, I ask him what he did.  He said in a dry Texas accent, “I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.  So, let me think about it.”  Much, much later I asked again and he finally spilled the beans; he did instrumentation for ROCKETS, MISSLES, AIRPLANES, and SATELLITES.  Now that's a great bunch of toys to play with when you're at work.

Just to prove to himself that he could do anything, Bill got licensed as a Real Estate Agent and as a Hamm Radio operator.  He sold 2 houses, declared himself a success, broadcast his achievement to the world, and retired from real estate.  Bill also tuned up his own cars.  He once told me that there was no way some guy at a gas station was smarter than him.  The only thing that guy had were better tools.

Bill was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1935, but grew up in Longview, Texas.  He was proud of his Texas background, and he would tell us stories about being a kid there.  He'd tell us that he could take a bus, go to the movies, and still buy a piece of candy for less than a quarter.  Or he'd talk about a guy that would push a cart of watermelons around town yelling, “Watermelons, watermelons for sale.”  Nearly every time I saw Bill eating watermelon, he would break out his “Watermelon” call.

Bill was married 2 times and has 3 daughters.  He was married towards the end of college for about 3 years to Deanna and they had two daughters, Cindy and Tonya.  Bill was married to Jan for 40 years and their daughter is Tiffany.  Last summer, Cindy and Tonya came out here from Texas to see their dad and everyone gathered at our house for dinner.  That was the first time Bill and his girls were all together.

Bill and Jan were long-time residents of Westminster.  Because of his work, Bill was also able to move the family to Kwajalein Atoll, in the Marshall Islands, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.  They lived there for about 3 1/2 years during the late 1970's.  Tiffany said it was a great place to be a kid.  The island was only 3 miles long and half a mile wide.  Everyone knew each other, they all rode bikes, cockroaches would scurry away when lights were turned on, and they would go down to the beach to watch missiles launched from Vandenberg, re-enter the atmosphere and land in the lagoon.

After returning from Kwajalein, Bill and Jan became more involved in the Church, the Garden Grove Assistance League, and at the lodge.  But each year, for nearly 20 years, their schedules revolved around Jan's holiday boutique.  In the 3rd week of October, Bill would transform the downstairs of their house into a holiday boutique shopping bonanza.  All the crafts Bill and Jan and their friends had made throughout the year were displayed and sold.  Bill mapped out the shelves and racks used to display all of this stuff and would spent 1 week before setting it up and 1 week after taking everything down.

After Bill retired from McDonnell Douglas, he worked part-time delivering cook books to schools that were selling them for fund raising purposes.  And once a year, he and Jan would go on driving trips across the US in search of crafting ideas that Jan could make for the boutique.  Things were fine and life was good, but then Jan got sick.  Bill was her rock.  He educated himself about her cancer and wrote letters to doctors to get her the best treatment and care possible.  He kept Jan comfortable and sang to her each night.  

After Jan passed away, Bill stayed active by doing one of his favorite activities…Golf.  Bill enjoyed golf.  During his time on the links, he made 3 hole-in-ones.  And I'm not talking about a hole-in-one you get where you hit the ball through the windmill or into the clown's mouth.  I was able to golf with him once and during our round, I chipped one in from 99 yards away.  I was very excited and I said, “Hey, I chipped it in!” and I started running up towards the green to get the ball.  Bill, who was off a little ways said, “Hey you pole-cat, don't you get close to that hole.  I want to check it myself to see if a ball is in there.”  So he walked up and found my ball in the cup, but I asked him, “What's a pole-cat? Is that some sort of golf lingo for playing your ball off the flag pole?”  Bill said, “No!  A pole-cat is East Texas lingo for a skunk and I smelled something bad with your golf shot, but I guess you're coming up like roses, this time.”

Bill also went on far flung trips around the world with his friends.  I just want to say thanks to Flint and Ruth Smith for the companionship and friendship you showed Bill after Jan's passing.  Bill's trips with you on that African safari, the cruise of the Nile River, and trip to China left lasting memories and many beautiful photographs.  But I know he also appreciated the short drives to your house for dinner and the weekly ROF dinners.  Thank you.  (ROF…ROF.  I had to ask Tiffany what ROF was.  It's a group of friends that get together for dinner and events.  Now, this group includes a bunch of engineers, and because engineers are involved, you're going to get an acronym for the name.  Engineers love acronyms.  So I thought ROF would stand for something really cool, like Radar Orbital Facility or Refracting Oscillating Functions, but no!  Leave it to engineers to have ROF stand for Retired Old Farts!  Maybe that's why you're all FORMER engineers.)

I began today by showing you an example of Bill's craftsmanship, the things he could make with his hands.  But he did so much more with his humanity and his belief in God; he made those around him better.  Through the Baptist Church at New Mexico State University, Bill was involved in the college chorus and volunteered to be the song leader for the kids at the church.  Later, when he joined the lodge, he helped with their charity events.  He helped out at the Strawberry Festival, building-out the trailer from where the Jobs Daughters were selling strawberry shortcakes.  Bill even made me better by dressing me for a fancy date I had with Tiffany.  I wore his blazer, his pants, his belt, his shoes, and this tie.  Tiffany said it was like going on a date with her dad…and I think that was the point!  Bill would visit with sick friends, sat and read to a friend that was incapacitated from a stroke, nursed another friend back to health after back surgery, and cared for his wife, Jan, all through-out her cancer treatments.  During this whole time, he stayed active in this church, singing in the chorus, and most recently counseling members after the loss of a loved one.  I never heard him complain that these activities were taking him away from the things he wanted to do, because this is what he wanted to do.

For the last couple of months, I think Bill had accepted his fate and was putting things in order.  He was cleaning out closets and giving Tiffany his old photos.  We were seeing him more often, either at the girls' volleyball games or having dinner with him.  But I think he was troubled and thought that he would not be remembered.  He told Tiffany and me to go out and pick an outfit that he would buy so that each time we wore it, we would think of him.  Tiffany got an exercise outfit and I got a nice pair of pants.  But it isn't that we won't remember him, it's that he is a part of us, all of us.  I use the phrase, “Just for Drill” all the time.  That's something Bill would often say.  When something good happens, Tiffany does a little “Richardson dance”.  I would see that dance often when Bill would play croquet, as he would line up and hit my ball from across the lawn.  And I know that the day will soon come when I'll be sitting across the table from my daughter's future boyfriend and I'll call him a pole-cat for eating the last hotdog.  I will never forget Bill.  That would be like asking me to forget my arm or leg.

Was Bill perfect?  No, I don't think anyone is, but he was good, and honest, and dependable.  He gave us his time and his talents and we are all better for it.  And we are all better for knowing him.

This photo of Bill was taken in 2009 and shows him sitting on the Great Wall of China.  He's just sitting there, looking beyond the wall, to the other side, the greener side.  This photo is very appropriate for today.  To me, it represents looking forward to a better place.  When I look at this photo, I feel joy and comfort, because I know that when I make that journey beyond the wall, I will be greeted by a familiar face with a Texas drawl calling out, “Hey you pole-cat, get over here and have some Watermelon!”

So now it's my privilege to give Bill his angel wings.  I'm not going to ring a bell like they did in the movie, It's a Wonderful Life, but I'm going to use an instrument of Bill's own making, his gavel.

Action: Bang the gavel twice.

Until we meet again, old friend.  You are loved and you are with us, always.

Action: Bang the gavel.  

Meeting adjourned.

Funeral Service

Westminster Memorial Park and Mortuary 

William Richardson

immediate need

Death has occurred or is near

plan ahead

Pre-plan a funeral or cremation

Plan a Funeral or Cremation Default Desktop

Find Obituaries and Services

Send Flowers

sympathy and etiquette

grief library

celebrations of life

What to Say When Someone Dies

Show Your Support

Sympathy and Grief

obituary

services

memories

Obit Detail

In the care of

share to facebook

share by email

share link

Share Obituary

ideas and resources

Sympathy and Grief Mobile

OBITUARY

William Montelle Richardson

December 21, 1935 – September 7, 2014

Westminster Memorial Park and Mortuary

Show your support

Add a Memory

Share Obituary

Get Reminders

Services