Richard L .“Dick” Larson, 86, passed peacefully on March 14, 2015.

On May 29, 1928, Richard L. “Dick” Larson survived a difficult delivery, which culminated in being warmed in the oven of the wood-burning stove in parents Clarence and Mary Aileen Larson’s rented farmhouse not far outside Austin, Minnesota. A talented student, like his schoolteacher mother before him, Dick attended one room schools in the primary grades. At age 15 he moved into town on his own to bellhop at the Fox Hotel. A couple years later he graduated from Austin High School and, after service in the Navy, obtained his BS in Electrical Engineering, the first college degree in his immediate family.

In 1958, already the father of three boys, Dick landed what was to be his final engineering job with the Boeing Company in Seattle, Washington, from which he retired after 35 years of service, first with the Bomarc and Minuteman missile programs and ultimately with the 747 airliner program. Dick and his loving wife Patsy retired to Green Valley, Arizona, in 1995 where they spent many happy years as he pursued his interest in golf, road trips, dancing and just generally having a good time. Faced with failing health in 2013, they returned to Seattle to be near family.

Dick is survived by wife Patsy; in the Seattle area by sons: Richard (Sue), Bruce (Rebecca), Scott (Elaine); grandchildren: (Richard) Nicole, Taylor, Peyton, (Bruce) Ryan, (Mark) Mitchell, Matthew, (Scott) Andrew and Emily; in Minnesota by his brother Chuck (Audrey), niece Joyce and nephew Bryan.

Dick was preceded in death by the mother of his children, Frances Dunfee Larson, also originally of Austin; and son Mark.

At the request of Dick and Patsy there will be no memorial service. In lieu of flowers or other remembrances, donations to the Alzheimer’s Foundation are suggested.