Richard Desterhouse

Richard Lester Desterhouse aka Dick, was born on Thursday, February 26, 1931, in Omaha, NE to parents, Leslie aka Lester Desterhouse (1909-1986) and Genevieve (Murphy) Desterhouse (1911-1994). Dick was the second oldest of five children, Robert aka Bob (Betty) Desterhouse (1929-2006), Jacqueline aka Jackie Harmier (1935-2015), Bernard aka Benny (Bonnie) Desterhouse (1936-2021), and Bernadine (Charles) Seifert (1938-2017). In 1947 Dick met the love of his life, Mabel Ann Sievers (1932-2019) and on Saturday, May 1st, 1948, he made her his wife. Dick started his career working for Watson Brothers where at the age of 15 he cleaned the shop while teaching himself how to work on diesel engines. Watson Brothers was acquired by Yellow Freight Systems in 1965 where Dick would become a leader in the maintenance division to where he would hold the title of VP of operations until his retirement in 1985. Retirement would not last long as Dick's work ethic even in retirement would not allow him sit idle. He started working for the Bernalillo County Public Works Department as a supervisor in road maintenance. He held this position until a near fatal heart attack on June 10th, 2007, when he retired for the second time. Dick survived the "widow-maker" heart attack and would then go on to work with his Friend Gordon, stocking warehouse items for Gordons Vending Machine business, he did this until he was well into his 80's.

Dick and Mabel created a beautiful family starting with their children, Beverly Ann Smith (Martin d.2011), Richard Jr, aka Rick (Annie) Desterhouse , and David aka Dusty (Connie) Desterhouse (1952-2012). Their grandchildren, Adele Martin, Richard (Tanya) Law, Renee (Jeffrey d. 2024) Ehlert, Justin, David, and James Desterhouse. Their great-grandchildren, Jacob Spaltensperger, Arcy (Elsa), Alek, Ashr, and Tayla Law, Matthew, Avery, and Jaxon Desterhouse and their great-great-granddaughter, Emberly Law.

Family was important to Dick, he took great care of his entire family, even raising his oldest grandchild, Adele. He had a profound sense of humor, enjoyed golf, bowling and when he was younger, camping with his family and friends. He took care of his wife until she passed, when she lost her vision, he would help her by doing her hair and makeup. He will be remembered as a great man who provided for his family and friends. He was a great leader, giving jobs to individuals based on experience and work ethic during a time of segregation, giving black men roles in leadership at a time when this was not considered. Dick could fix anything you put in front of him and was still climbing on roofs to fix things well in his late 80's. Dick, was the leader of our family, he worked hard and took care of every single member until the end. Dick passed away at 0840 on Tuesday, July 5th, 2022, in his home with his oldest grandchild at his side. In his last moments on earth, he reached towards the sky with both hands and was locked into whom I believe was his son and wife coming for him. He was focused on what he was seeing and reached out for them until his final breath. He died peacefully and without pain from complications secondary to dementia and has reunited with all those who preceded him in death. We love you and we honor you, on what would be your 94th Birthday.