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Richard Roscoe WILFORD

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"Dick, you were a wonderful step-father to me. I will always..."
- Christine Dusel-Williams

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WILFORD, Richard Roscoe
Richard Roscoe Wilford, retired public information officer and beloved father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, passed away peacefully on December 11, in Carmichael, California. Richard Wilford was born April 5, 1921, in Beloit, Wisconsin, to Llewellyn Gammon Wilford and Katharine Richard Wilford. Richard attended Beloit schools and graduated from Beloit College, Beloit, Wisconsin, with a major in political science and a minor in Spanish, serving as president of his fraternity, Tau Kappa Epsilon, and became a member of Turtle Mound, an honorary Beloit College society, as well as of Delta Sigma Rho (honorary debating society), Phi Sigma Iota (honorary foreign language society), and Pi Sigma Alpha (honorary political science society).
After graduation, he enlisted in the U.S. Army as a member of Signal Intelligence, and, as a Technical Sergeant, was deployed to England, working with the Royal Air Force, studying and intercepting German codes, and then serving with Patton's army in North Africa and Italy, again tracking and deciphering German troop and aircraft movements. He and his fellow Signal Intelligence troops were never in the front lines and were heavily-guarded, because they were to avoid being captured at all costs; they knew too much about the German codes and how to break them. Following the war's end, he earned an M.A. in Spanish from George Washington University, Washington, DC, and entered the U.S. Foreign Service.
In the Foreign Service, he was an embassy secretary in Madrid, Spain, and a Vice-Consul in Naples and Bari, Italy, during which time he was able to use his foreign languages, including repatriating Germans from Spain to Germany for the Nuremburg Trials. After seven years, he resigned from the Foreign Service, returning to the U.S. and began his long career in public information, first for Forest Lawn Memorial Park, then for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and finally for the State of California, with the water project and alcohol rehabilitation programs, from which he retired in 1983.
During his busy and active life, he attended graduate school in political science at USC, learned to speak eight languages, subscribed to multiple daily newspapers, read incessantly, was a member of the Men's Bible Study at his Presbyterian church, and became a well-known collector of political memorabilia, recounting many of the back-stories of numerous political figures, entertaining his listeners. He was a president of the Sacramento Toastmasters and joined the Spanish-language Toastmasters, as well. In his years at his retirement home, Richard was instrumental in producing numerous plays, enjoying the role of backstage encourager. He and wife Clarice loved to travel and logged many miles in many countries, including Norway, Russia, China, Thailand, and others, bringing home the famous videos for all the children and grandchildren to view, narrated with his inimitable wit. He thoroughly enjoyed the company of all his children and grandchildren, from taking them to Leatherby's and the Waffle Shop, to helping them with research for school papers, teaching them to drive, and telling funny childhood stories about them to their dates, much to their chagrin.
Richard was predeceased by his second wife, Clarice Bjorneby Dusel Wilford. Surviving children are (with first wife, Frances Puckett Wilbur) Marguerite (James) Sorenson, Geoffrey Wilford, and Katharine Edmonson and his grandchildren Jane (Chris) Herthel, Jill (Matt) Hooven, Jessica (Justin) Fraga, Tracie (Chris) Fast, and Corey (Melissa) Wilford and seven great-grandchildren. Surviving stepchildren are Julianne (Ed) Smith, John (Patti) Dusel, James Dusel, Christine (Anthony) Williams, and Mark (Julie) Dusel. Stepgrandchildren are April (Jim) Woods, Meredith (Andrew) Hawkins, Ryan Young, C. Kirby (Angela) Dusel, Nicole (Paul) Dorway, Matthew (Jessica) Dusel, and eleven great-grandchildren.
The family extends heartfelt thanks and appreciation to the attentive staff at Eskaton Village, Carmichael, California, for their loving concern and care throughout the years he resided there and to Mercy Hospice who provided the additional care he needed during his last months. There will be a private interment at Mt. Vernon Memorial Park Fair Oaks, California.

Published in The Sacramento Bee on January 13, 2013

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