Richard Lee Atherton

Epitaph

Description

Richard Lee Atherton, age 75, of Milwaukie, Oregon, died Thursday, March 16, 2017 after battling Parkinson’s Disease for more than a decade. Born February 14, 1942 in Portland, Oregon, he was the son of the late Ernest Atherton and Ruth (Tanner) Miller.

A lifelong Oregonian, Richard attended Madison High School. He joined the Army in 1960 and served for three years. After leaving the Army he began work at Nabisco in 1963 where he met his wife-to-be Alice. They were married February 18, 1967 and were fortunate enough to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary this February. Richard retired from Nabisco in 2003 and enjoyed getting out on the golf course for as long as he could before Parkinson’s Disease slowed him down. In addition to golf, Richard enjoyed baking and was particularly famous in his family for making amazing cheesecakes. A love of learning and a curious nature led Richard to pursue many hobbies in his lifetime including raising racing pigeons when he was young, tropical aquarium keeping, raising koi in backyard ponds, collecting all kinds of memorabilia and antiques, getting rad tattoos, and growing beautiful roses and orchids.

He is survived by his loving wife of 50 years, Alice Atherton; his daughter, Lesa Pinker and her husband, Michael; step-daughter, Patty Collins and husband, Marshall; step-son, Michael Kinney and his wife, Lisa Miller; five grandsons, Joe Collins, Nigel Kinney, Nick Kinney, Dustin Collins and Theo Pinker; and three great-grandchildren. He leaves behind siblings, Larry Atherton, David Atherton and Nancy Ryan. Richard was preceded in death by brother, James Atherton.