Richard Nelson Yadon

Dick is remembered as a loving and present father and grandfather. He loved music, good food, old cars, fishing, and spending time with family and friends. He was known for his easy-going nature and his dry sense of humor. He was a favorite of the staff of Arbor View, where he lived his last year and a half, and of the nurses at Lutheran Hospital and Hollier hospice, where he spent his last days.

Richard (Dick) Nelson Yadon (August 24, 1947-November 25, 2025) was born to Kenneth Waite Yadon and Lorna Bowman Yadon in St. Cloud, Minnesota. Ken and Lorna moved to Minnesota after coming back from Australia where Ken served in the armed forces. Lorna and Ken met when she worked on the military base in Queensland. They married there and Lorna sailed on a ship full of Australian war brides to the US. Because of illness, Ken needed a cooler climate and so moved to St. Cloud where they had friends. In 1951 they moved back to Hutchinson, Kansas where they spent the rest of their lives.

Dick attended Hutchinson public schools, graduating from Hutchison High School in 1965. During his junior and senior years, he was a member of the Hutchinson Sky Ryders Drum and Bugle Corps, travelling with them to national competitions. His love of drum corps led him to follow various corps and to serve on the board of directors for the Sky Ryders during the 80’s. When he moved to Denver, he began to volunteer for the Blue Knights Drum and Bugle Corps and continued to support them.

After two years at Hutchinson Community College, Dick joined the Air Force in 1967. He served for four years in Sacramento, California and Albuquerque, New Mexico. He married Mary Ewbank in Hutchinson in 1968. After the birth of son Matthew, they moved back to Kansas, settling in Wichita. Dick graduated from Wichita State University just before the birth of daughter Angela and began his finance career at Wichita Federal Savings and Loan.

Rising to vice-president, Dick worked at Wichita Federal for more than 20 years. He then went to work for Boeing before moving to Denver in 1999. In Denver he became a registered stock broker for Charles Schwab. In 2000 he moved back to Kansas, taking a job with the Kansas State Department of Credit Unions. In his ten years with the agency, Dick rose to Director and retired from that post in 2010, just before moving back to Denver.

He is survived by son Matthew Yadon of Arvada, Colorado and daughter Angela Yadon of Lakewood, Colorado, his two grandsons, Sawyer and Samuel, his sisters, Estelle Renberger of McPherson, Kansas, and Kathy Helfrich, of Hutchinson Kansasand many nieces and nephews. He is also survived by his life-long friend, Mike Sanders of Pocatella, Idaho. He was preceded in death by his brother Steve Yadon, of Andover Kansas.

A celebration of life will be held in Arvada Colorado in June. Memorials can be sent to the Blue Knights Drum and Bugle Corps.

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