Richard (Dick) Kendall died unexpectedly Nov. 1, 2006.

Dick was born Jan. 4, 1933 in Boston, Mass. to Leslie and Mary Kendall. He grew up in Everett, Mass. and graduated from Everett High School in 1951. He entered the Air Force and was trained in aviation electronics.

On leaving the Air Force, he read in an ad that Federal Electric was hiring electronic people for the newly operational “White Alice” sites across Alaska. Ready for adventure he applied and was sent to Granite Mountain, then Fort Yukon. It was there he met his future wife, Betty. They were married in Anchorage in 1962. A son Scott was born in 1963 and daughter Susan in 1964.

They left Alaska in 1965 – Dick’s work for Federal Electric putting in NATO communications took them to Italy, Germany and England. They returned to the U.S. settled in Indiana. Then in 1969 he signed on with Federal Electric again for a one-year tour of Tan Son Nhut Airbase in Vietnam.

Afterward they went home to Alaska where they lived the next 16 years, relocating to Vancouver, Wash., in 1986 and retiring in 1988. Since 1988, Whidbey Island has been home.

He is survived by his wife Betty, his son Scott of Federal Way; daughter Susan (Bryan) Gellnex of Tacoma, and of course, the recent “light of his life” grandchildren Spencer and Ruby. He leaves a sister, Ruth Widmer, and brother Leslie; and numerous nieces and nephews.

Those who knew him appreciated his dry wit and his wealth of stories, sense of history and vast knowledge of “a little bit of everything.”

Dick was a “neighbor” in the old-time usage of the word. There whenever you needed him. He participated in the almost daily 10 o’clock neighbor coffee time. He was loved by family and friends, and there is a space in our lives that will always be for him.

No service is planned. When there’s a sunny day – sit outside and enjoy it. Dick would have.