Richard Maloy Troxel

Richard Maloy Troxel, age 104, son of Joseph Monroe and Rachel America (Humbird) Troxel, was born September 14, 1920, near Romulous, Oklahoma, in a rock house that had a dirt floor.
He passed into eternal life with his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on October 15, 2024, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he had been living with his daughter and family.
He attended several grade schools in central Oklahoma because his parents moved quite often, as they worked on various farms in that area. He graduated from Bridge Creek High School. He then attended Draughns Business College and got a job as Rate Clerk in the motor freight business in 1940, retiring in 1987.
He joined the Coast Guard on June 2, 1942, during World War II and served three years and four months. While stationed in Florida, he was given a chance to go to officers training school.
After taking a test to see if he was qualified, he was advised that he was only the third person in their history to take this test in Florida and make a perfect score. He was still in officers' training when the war ended.
Richard married his beloved wife, Noma Lee Ellen (Renfro), on August 18, 1946 (died August 21, 2014). They had two children, Linda Darlene (Watkins) and Steven Richard. In his last conversation with the family before he passed, he was telling his great-grandchildren how he met his wife, Noma. His boss and her boss got together and set them up to work on a particular job so that they would meet and get to know each other. Their first date was for dinner at a fine restaurant and then putting a jigsaw puzzle together at her apartment. They married three months later.
Richard was consistent and faithful in his duties, his marriage, and to his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He was gentle, mild-mannered, humble, served others when he could, loved to share jokes with his friends and family, and gave of his time to help seniors with their income taxes after he retired at no cost to them. He was a member of Portland Avenue Baptist Church in Oklahoma City for 73 years, where he served as a deacon and a greeter, before moving to Minnesota to live with his daughter's family.
Richard was preceded in death by his parents, his wife Noma, siblings Clifford Melvin, Flora Imogene, Vester Orville, Virgil Lory, J.B., and Dorothy Verneal (Coffield). He is survived by his sister Mary Nadine (Maloy); two children, Linda Darlene (Watkins) and Steven Richard; ten grandchildren {Paul David, Rebecca Suzanne (Bateman), John Stephen, Elisabeth Ann, Mark Daniel, Steven Michael, Timothy Michael, Ariel Rose, Sara Michelle (Weishaar), and Philip Andrew, and thirty-two great-grandchildren.
He is sorely missed!