Obituary: Washburn, Richard “Dick”
Age 74
WASHBURN, Richard “Dick”
Was born November 7th 1937 in Spokane as one of eight children to Ernie and Anna.
Early life was difficult, with no conveniences of modern life.
The Washburns moved to Hillsboro Oregon for a short time while Ernie logged his property.
At seven years old, Dick lost his mother to a stroke.
A short time later, the family returned to the Spokane area.
Dick graduated from West Valley High School in 1955 and went to work for Kaiser Aluminum.
That same year Dick met and began courting his future wife, Lee Julian.
In 1956, Dick and the Julian’s both moved to Seattle where Dick and Lee’s father found employment at Boeing.
In August 1958 Dick and Lee were married in Seattle where they lived for a year and a half.
Dick and Lee moved to California where Dick enlisted in the Army Reserves serving for SIX years.
Dick eventually went to work for Wonderbread as a salesman for the next 20 years.
In 1968 Dick and Lee adopted their son Rick.
The Washburns moved around California then moved to Wenatchee and then Omak.
While in Omak, Dick built a house and barn in the country where the family lived.
Dick and Lee ran a grocery and milk delivery business in Okanogan for several years.
In 1979 Dick and Lee had their second son, Ryan.
In 1985, the family moved to Kennewick where Dick went to work for South Columbia Basin Irrigation.
When Dick retired in 1999 they began traveling in the RV full time.
For the next 12 years Dick and Lee went south every fall and visited 44 states, 10 of 11 Canadian provinces and Mexico.
They were married for almost 54 years.
Dick enjoyed woodworking, especially making beautiful handcrafted furniture for family.
Dick also grew to love fishing.
He started out with trout, then moved up to salmon, steelhead, sturgeon and halibut.
Dick passed away on Friday July 13th, 2012.
Dick was preceeded in death by his parents and siblings Vivian, Ruth, Illa, Cecil and Clarence.
Dick is survived by his wife Lee, sons Rick(Ginger) and Ryan(friend Cheryl), and sisters Iona and Betty, three grandchildren Hunter, Layton and Kaisja and many nieces and nephews.
Dick made numerous friends where ever he went and will be missed by all.
A graveside service will be at the Pleasant Prairie Cemetery in Spokane on Thursday, July 19th., 2012 at 11am.
The Family invites you to sign their online guest book at
www.muellersfuneralhomes.com