Richard Von Dach

1930 - 2019

Richard Paul Von Dach
December 22, 1930 - April 26, 2019
Richard Paul Von Dach was born December 22, 1930 in St. Louis, Missouri. When he was six years old his Mom, his older brother Bob, his younger brother Fritz, and he moved in with his grandparents on their farm in Red Bud, Illinois. The Great Depression was a tough time to grow up and living on the farm meant lots of labor and everybody worked, including Richard and his brothers. When Mom ran out of things for them to do around the farm, she'd volunteer them out to the neighbors, kind of the same way you get volunteered in the army. One of Richard's favorite childhood stories was about how he was always the one that had to climb to the top of the tree to pick the fruit and Mom was always more concerned and worried about him bruising the fruit than himself. Then he would laugh, the laugh that would make the rest of us laugh and reminisce some more about the childhood antics he and his brothers shared. As a young man he worked in a factory on an assembly line polishing mail box inserts, spent a couple of years in the Air Force while it was still part of the Army stationed in Alaska during the Korean War. He tried a semester or so of college and then got interested in drafting. He graduated from The David Ranken Jr. School of Mechanical Trades and became a draftsman for Babcock and Wilcox in Evansville, Indiana drawing plans for nuclear boilers and later for large fans to handle airflow in tunnels and other similar projects. He made drafting his career retiring in 1987 and moved west to Idaho to be close to the rest of his family.
Uncle Dick, Richard to you, was a hero to me. In the first place he was my Dad's brother so automatically my favorite uncle. He is in many of my first memories, one of my favorites being the time he visited us in Oberammergau, Germany. I was four and we had lots of snow. Dad, Uncle Dick, and I went sledding. Dad lay down on the sled first, then Uncle Dick on top of him and me on top of Uncle Dick. We went flying down the hill over the tops of fence posts just poking out of the snow, past the farm houses clear into the town proper, the cold wind blowing in our faces and the most exhilarating ride I'd ever had in my life. As I grew older, he was my hero because he gave up what I called a chance at a normal life, marriage, kids etc., to take in his younger brother Fritz who had no where else to go. Fritz had been diagnosed with a mental illness, schizophrenia, which kept him from being able to function well in society. Uncle Dick cared compassionately for Uncle Fritz and they took many driving adventures around Southern Idaho until Fritz's death in 2008. Without Uncle Dick's sacrifice Fritz would have become a lost person. That action, willingly giving up a chance at one life for another person's betterment, embodies everything my Uncle Dick was, a hero.
Richard was kind, gentle, sensitive, stubborn, very giving and much loved by his friends and family. He loved to golf! He had many tales of the adventures he and all his golfing buddies shared together. And the holes-in-one he got; 2, 3, 4, 5-it depended who was telling the story. He was a lifelong fan of baseball, sneaking into the games with his brother Bob when they were both kids. His first favorite team was the St. Louis Browns but they betrayed him by moving to Baltimore, so he became a loyal fan of the St. Louis Cardinals. The entire family looked forward to birthdays because we knew we'd be getting scratch-off lottery tickets from Uncle Dick. We'd have such fun scratching them, rooting for one more match to claim the big prize. No one ever did or really expected to win big but we always had a fun time. Just about every day Richard loved to take long drives out into areas where he could admire the scenery, especially areas where he could look out over the wide vistas of the valleys and the mountains, God's glory, he would call it. The day he went missing, March 5th, he went to what may have been a favorite spot out by Malheur Butte. Something went wrong and he never made it home. He was found on April 29th approximately 2 months after his disappearance. He had high-centered his car somehow and couldn't get the car unstuck. We believe he tried so hard it overheated the car and it caught fire. He was found about 75 feet away from the burned car in a small ditch protected by some sage brush. He was 88 years old and likely died from overexertion.
Richard was deeply rooted in his faith. It sustained him throughout his life and never wavered. Grace Lutheran Church in Caldwell was his second family. He loved singing in the choir. He would say he always sang off key, but everyone was too nice to tell him, and they let him sing anyway. We thank all the congregants of Grace Lutheran Church in Caldwell for their support of him over the many years and everything you did to get the information of his disappearance out as widely as possible. A special thank you to Chuck, a really good friend of Richard's, a golfing buddy and fellow congregant. Thank you for going out and looking for him.
Thank you to all the Ladies at the Caldwell branch of the Idaho Independent Bank for watching out for him, especially Jaime, thank you for going out and looking for him, your efforts were greatly appreciated. Thank you to his landlord Bryce Stoops and his family and his neighbor Darlene for keeping an eye on him at home. Thank you to all who prayed for him, thought of him, and hoped for him. Lastly but not leastly, thank you to Emily Lowe, Canyon County Public Safety Reporter with the Press Tribune. Read her article. She got the facts of the condition of the car and Richard's remains straight. He was NOT burned as was reported repeatedly by one television station in the Valley. It is encouraging to know someone still actually does research and reports facts not sensationalism.
Richard is survived by his older brother Robert Von Dach of Boise, nieces (spouses) Beth (Doug) Brigham of Boise and Holly (Steve) Turney of Meridian, nephew Rob Von Dach of Phoenix AZ, Grandniece (spouse) Caroline (Blake) Densley of Boise, grandnephews (spouse)Drew (Katey) Brigham of Omaha NE, Erik Brigham of Meridian. He was preceded in death by his parents, Fred Von Dach and Elma Stellhorn Von Dach, stillborn twin sisters, his Uncle Otto Stellhorn and his Uncle Paul Stellhorn, who was a father figure to the boys for most of their lives, and his younger brother Fritz.
A Memorial Service will be held on Friday May 10, 2019 at 11:00 am at Grace Lutheran Church 2700 S Kimball Ave. in Caldwell, ID. In lieu of flowers please make a donation in Richard's name to Grace Lutheran Church in Caldwell, Local Meals on Wheels, the Boise Rescue Mission, the Idaho Humane Society, or go play a round of golf in his honor.