Richard Chamberlain

CHAMBERLAIN, Richard Eugene "Dick" Of Sacramento, died January 1, 2015, at 90 years of age. He is survived by his wife of 69 years, Virginia; son Richard Jr. and his wife Cheryl, son Shawn, and daughter Rebecca and her husband John; four grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren, sister Evelyn, brother Jack, and many nieces and nephews. Services will be held at 2 p.m on Friday, Jan. 9th at Mount Vernon Memorial Park, preceded by visitation at 1 p.m. The family requests that, in lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to the American Cancer Society or Cal Farley's Boys Ranch near Amarillo, Texas. Dick was born in Norfolk, Nebraska, the third child of John Harold Chamberlain and Clara Belle Dobney. With the onset of the Great Depression, his family moved to a farm where he grew up during the dust bowl years. He enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1942 and graduated from pilot training in Texas in 1945. He was transferred to Williams Field, Arizona, where he met Virginia Bowman who became his bride on November 16, 1945. One month prior to their marriage, he was released from active duty. He served in the Air Force Reserve until he was recalled to active duty in April 1953. Dick had assignments throughout Texas, Mississippi, Kansas and Massachusetts in addition to deployments to Korea, Turkey and Southeast Asia. He was a command pilot with over 8,000 hours of flying time, which included more than 700 hours of combat flying time. He flew 23 different military aircraft and received numerous awards and decorations, including the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal, and the Air Force Commendation Medal. He retired in 1974 after 31½years of military service. He was a local volunteer in state and federal politics after his retirement. He liked traveling, playing golf, collecting clowns and model cars, vegetable gardening, and, most of all, spending time with family.