Richard Dale Wilson

On Tuesday, April 20, 2021 Richard Dale Wilson passed away in his home in Diamond Springs, Ca. with his companion Patty Harris by his side. They shared many great interests and enjoyed spending time together.

Richard Dale Wilson, born December 4, 1935 to Ray Albert Wilson and Lillian Goldie (Gray) Wilson. He was born in Antioch CA. Richard leaves behind his Brother David Wilson of Port Orchard WA. Richard was proceeded in death by his wife of 54 years, Pauline Wilson in 2014. They built a family together with 5 children, Lori Boes, Steven Wilson, Larry Wilson, Greg Wilson, and Pamela Honesto. They loved dearly all 10 Grandchildren and 20 Great Grandchildren and well as nephews Christian and Matthew Wilson.

Richard served in the US Air Force from Jan 1955 – Jan 1958. He was a Guided Missile Technician during his time in the service.

Richard lived most of his life in Santa Clara County working as an Electronic Engineer, with a specialty in defense electronics. He traveled the world with his job and loved to share his adventures with all those that could sit through all his beautiful photos and stories. He even developed and patented one of the first pagers when working for Meta Systems in Sunnyvale Ca. in the mid 1980’s.

Next to his family, Richard’s other passion was fishing. After purchasing a boat, he and his father, Ray Wilson converted a 24’ cabin cruiser into a commercial fishing boat. In 1974 he moved his family from Santa Clara to Brookings Oregon. He soon took to the seas and worked as commercial fisherman on his boat named the Penguin. During the off season he had a TV and Radio Repair Shop he ran out of the home. By the end of 1975, the family sadly returned to the Bay Area. In the years to follow, he purchased a second fishing boat and was moored in Moss Landing. The last boat he purchased was in Everette and fished the sound. The Dream to be on the water and to fish the ocean seas never left him.

After a brief retirement, Richard and Pauline relocated from Everett Washington to Diamond Springs in 2009. Together they enjoyed traveling, spending time with the family and friends. Their greatest adventure was when they traveled the United State and into Quebec Canada to research Pauline’s family. The stopped and visited grandchildren and great grandchildren in Minnesota and met new family in Quebec.

It was not too long after moving to Diamond Springs Richard became involved with Roots & Dust Genealogical Society in El Dorado County. He studied, met with organizations and soon he was an accomplished genealogist, and served as President of the Roots and Dust Genealogical Society for several years. Richard loved to share his passion with friends and family and all others were interested in learning how to research and build their own family history and how to document all the details. His family books are a treasured gift for the family for generations to come.

Our Dad was the kindest father… He had a gentle soul, with love in his heart. He was firm, but not too firm, he was gentle but not to gentle and was always the best with a kind word, great advise and a very loving heart. He will certainly be missed by all that knew him. His gentle soul and kind heart will live in us forever.