Col. Richard M. Love

Colonel Richard M Love, US Army retired, a devoted and adored husband, father, and grandfather, who served his country in two wars and was a talented and patient gardener, fisherman and handyman, died 2 March 2011 in Plano, TX.

Born 2 September 1928 and reared in Waxahachie, TX, he married Wanda June Arnold, from Okema, OK, on 7 March 1953 at the TCU chapel in Ft. Worth. The Loves were married by Rev. Thurman Morgan, a 1920 TCU classmate of Richard's mother, Fay Williams Love.

Colonel Love served overseas in Germany twice, first with his newlywed bride in Erlangen and Wurzburg, and again in 1965, with 4 young daughters in tow. He served his country in both the Korean and Vietnam wars and was a highly decorated officer, awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star Medal, Soldier’s Medal for Heroism, Air Medal, Legion of Merit, and several presidential citations for bravery and heroism. In Korea and at Fort Sill (OK) in the early ‘50s, Love led efforts to achieve racial integration in the army; later assigned to the Pentagon, he became instrumental in abolishing conscription and establishing an all-volunteer army. After retiring from the army in 1973, he embarked on a career in the oil & gas industry.

Following in the proud Aggie tradition of his father, Walter Meigs Love, Richard (Dick) was educated at Texas A&M, from which he received a Bachelor of Science in 1949 and a Master of Mechanical Engineering in 1965. He later studied at the Army War College and attended Harvard University’s Advanced Management Program in 1970.

His fondness for the outdoors ran to peaceful pursuits such as gardening and fishing. He put his engineering background, resourcefulness and creativity to fine use as a handyman for his daughters and grandkids, crafting leaf forts, ice rinks, igloos, tree swings, stilts, and even a teeter-totter out of a fallen tree.

Richard Love is survived by his wife, Wanda; daughters Susan, Carolyn, Sharon, and Linda; sister Kathryn; and grandchildren Graham, Olivia and Mallory.

Funeral Service For Col. Love will be held on Tuesday, March 8, 2011,10:00am at Sparkman Funeral Home, 1029 S. Greenville Ave, Richardson TX 75081. Interment to follow at Milford Cemetery, Milford TX.