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Submitted: 3/15/15 • Approved: 3/18/15 • Last Updated: 3/21/15 • R1065538-G0-S3
FIRST LIEUTENANT US Army Air Corps
72nd Squadron of the 13th Bombers
World War II
February 29, 1924 - May 20, 2008
*Obituary
Luginbuel Funeral Home
Prairie Grove, Arkansas
Richard Clarkson Erd passed away May 20, 2008 in Springdale, Arkansas. He was born a leap year’s baby in Lexington Kentucky on February 29, 1924. During the Depression he grew up as a young boy in the Midwest. His family settled in Dayton, Ohio where he attended High School. He served as a bombardier in the 72nd Squadron of the 13th United States Army Air Corps in WW2 and flew 50 missions in the SW Pacific to end his tour as First Lieutenant. Dick met his first wife, Patricia Scott, while on R and R in Sydney Australia in 1944. He enlisted for 25 more missions so he could return to Sydney and marry her in 1945. They returned briefly to live in Sydney after the War, then settled in the States.
He loved music and was ever grateful to the kind person at San Antonio,Texas Military Base who played Daybreak from the Mississippi River Suite rather than Revele to wake newly enlisted WWII cadets. He sang in many choirs and musicals and played a mean trombone in the kitchen. He believed you could always buck up in life with humor and a song. He hoped the last sound he heard on earth would be a piece of beautiful music. A few of his heroes were Jimmy Durante, Oscar Hammerstein II and Perry Como.
He had a life-long love of mineralogy. He studied at Indiana University then began his career as a mineralogist with USGS in 1951 in Washington DC . He transferred in 1956 and worked over 40 years with USGS in Menlo Park, California. He was internationally known for his research in borate mineralogy. In 1979 Dick was given an honorary award from the American Federation of Mineralogical Societies for his service to the public and to amateur mineralogists. A scholarship was set up in his name for students. He described the first mercury-silicate ever known. He synthesized a compound in 1956 which was later discovered in 1977. This very rare occurring mineral was named erdite, in his honor. He was one of the founders of Bay Area Mineralogists in 1972. He loved to share his wonder of geology. “Just think,” he would say, “ when you crack open a rock, you are the first person to see all those thousands of years of history inside.”
He was buoyed by the elevated thought of poetry and delighted in writing limericks and metric poems. As easily amazed by a spider’s weaving of its web as with the marvels of astronomy, he blessed his four daughters with the gift of his passionate curiosity. Whether it was looking at snowflakes with a hand lens, combing libraries for armloads of books, flying kites, working crossword puzzles, recounting family stories, or exploring ancestral roots in Germany, he was hooked on the wonder of being alive. He often said if we found him prematurely deceased we should suspect murder as he loved life too much, with all its mysteries and humor and beauty.
He survived three well loved wives: Patricia (Scott) Erd of Sydney Australia, Helen (Jennings )Erd of Lincoln, Nebraska, and Barbara (Brown) Erd of Palo Alto, California. He is survived by his fourth wife, Dixie Lee (Rone) Erd of Fayetteville, Arkansas. He leaves seven grandchildren and five great grandchildren.
He said that the legacy he gifts to the world are his four daughters, Diana Sanchez of Hilo, Hawaii, Wendy Erd of Homer, Alaska, Corinne McCourt of Sunnyvale, California and Barbara Skotvold of Magalia. California.
In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Earlene Howard Hospice Home in Springdale, Arkansas.
Arrangements by the Luginbuel Funeral Home in Prairie Grove, Arkansas. Online guest book at www.luginbuel.com.
Contributed on 3/15/15 by judyfrog
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Record #: 1065538