Richard Burroughs Davidson

1932 - 2020

Richard Burroughs Davidson passed peacefully from this earthly world and began his Heavenly life on November 7, 2020. He was 88 years old.

Richard was born September 24, 1932 in Jacksonville, Florida, and was raised in Moultrie, Georgia. He graduated as an aeronautical engineer from Georgia Tech University. While in college he worked in the co-op program for General Dynamics in Fort Worth helping design the B36 bomber. After graduation he stayed on with GD working on the B58 Hustler supersonic bomber. He then met the love of his life, Betty Jeanne Ratcliff, and they were married in 1956 in Fort Worth.

Richard then began his military service at the Army's Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland, then graduated from the Guided Missile School in Red Stone Arsenal, Alabama. He served on the secret project Hardtack that launched and detonated an atomic warhead on a Redstone missile from Johnston Island in the Pacific Ocean. The Davidsons moved to Huntsville, Alabama in 1959 where he joined Brown Engineering and continued to design Army missile systems. First daughter Mary Elizabeth was born there.

In 1962 Richard joined the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and was one of the first employees at Houston's Johnson Space Center. He worked on all NASA spacecraft including the Space Shuttle and Space Station Freedom until his retirement in 1987. While in Pasadena/Houston, daughters Sarahjane and Julia Ann joined the family. After retiring from NASA, Richard continued work on Space Station Freedom with McDonnell Douglas, retiring again in 1992. After Betty died in 2010, Richard moved to Fort Worth to be near his grandsons.

Richard was an expert sailor, winning many races in his Lido and other larger sailboats on and around Clear Lake, up and down the U.S. coast, and into Mexico. He was a highly rated Ruby Life Master bridge player, enjoyed frequent games at the Pasadena, Clear Lake, and Fort Worth Bridge Clubs. He played in bridge tournaments throughout the U.S. and Canada, often teaching and helping friends acquire master points, too. Richard was a member of both the Pasadena and Southeast Fort Worth Lions Clubs in his retirement years.

Richard and Betty loved to travel and did so often, repeatedly to the Colorado mountains, Hawaii, and visited almost all the National Parks. The Davidsons loved their church families and Richard served as an elder at each church home. They were members of First Christian Church in Pasadena where they led youth groups, then Bay Area Christian Church, then Richard transferred his membership to Ridglea Christian Church in Fort Worth.

Richard was predeceased by his wife Betty, parents Mary Bernard Burroughs Davidson and Author Benjamin Davidson, as well as two brothers, George de Saussure Davidson and Charles Benjamin Davidson. He is survived by his three daughters and their husbands, Liz and Benton Jennings of Sherman Oaks, California, Sarahjane "SJ" and William D. Swanson of Houston, and Julia and E. Todd Reynolds, as well as his beloved grandsons Richard A. Reynolds and William A. Reynolds of Benbrook, Texas.

A memorial service will be held on Friday, November 27th at 10:00 a.m. at Bay Area Christian Church, 14550 Highway 3, Webster, Texas 77598. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests a donation the Wounded Warrior Project or a charity of your choice.