Richard Anderson

Aerospace engineer Richard Robert Anderson was 91 years old when he died in Longmont, Colorado on November 26, 2017 but you would not have known he was that old if you had seen him working with his computer, his iPhone or his ham radio.

Services will be Thursday, November 30, 2017; 2:00 P.M. at Butler Volland Chapel, Hastings with Pastor Joel Remmers officiating. Burial with military rites by Hastings Veterans Organizations will be in Parkview Cemetery, Hastings. Memorials may be given to the family for a memorial to be established at a later date. Visitation will be Thursday, November 30, 2017; 9:00 A.M. - 2:00 P.M. at the funeral home.

Born in Fremont, Nebraska on October 8, 1926 to Earl George Anderson and Florence Matilda Wilson, he lived through very large changes in our world, going from the era of crystal radios, silent films, and the dawn of aviation, to spacecraft, the internet, and smart phones. He kept up with all the technology, working as a Thermal Analyst Engineer at Ball Aerospace in Boulder until he was 78 years old.

Back when he was 17, in 1944, he joined the Marine Corps, serving in the Pacific Theater as part of the Marine detachment on the USS Chester - much of the time as the Captain's Orderly. After the war, he returned to his native Nebraska, where he was posted to the Naval Ammunition Depot (NAD) outside of Hastings, again as Captain's Orderly, among many other duties. During his time in the Marines, he picked up his nickname "Andy", short for Anderson.

While at NAD, he met the love of his life Katherine Ruth Batt, who was working in the contracting department. They were married on May 23, 1947, and were together until his death -- over 70 wonderful years.

Richard graduated from Hastings College majoring in Physics with a minor in Mathematics, and then did post-graduate work at Iowa State University. In the early 1950's, they moved to Tulsa Oklahoma, where Richard worked at Douglas Aircraft, and then North American Aviation. Projects included the Skybolt missile and the B-66 bomber.

Their son Scott was born in 1956, and son Steven was born in 1958. Richard was a kind and gentle husband and father, who spent much time with his children, and instilled in them his own wide-ranging curiosity and love of learning. Driving vacations to California and the Southwest on Route 66 are particularly memorable.

In late 1965, he began working for Ball Aerospace in Boulder Colorado, designing and analyzing the thermal subsystems of spacecraft. Projects included the Orbiting Solar Observatories (OSO), the Apollo Telescope Mount instruments that flew on Skylab, the Infrared Astronomy Satellite (IRAS), the Chandra X-ray Telescope, and many other spacecraft and space instruments.

Richard was very interested in Civil War history, and visited many of the battlefields. His grandfather Milton Anderson had fought in the Civil War for the 124th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment, which attests to the long generations on that side of his family. Other ancestors in the Civil War include great-grandfathers Archibald W. Kile and Alvin C. Durham.

He regularly attended the reunions of the WWII USS Chester men over the last 30 years, and was secretary of the reunion organization.

He is survived by his wife, Katherine, sons Scott (Wendy), and Steven (Marji), grandchildren Nathaniel (Kimberly), James, Megan (Nate), Caryn (Trent), Tyler, and David, and great-grandchildren Carter Fugitt, Taylor Grace Fugitt, Colton Fugitt, Jaden Anderson, and Benjamin Anderson.