Richard Newton Kidwell

Richard Newton Kidwell was born in Denver, Colorado at Denver Hospital in 1928. He was the only child of Mildred Armstrong Kidwell (later, Lambert) and Henry Kidwell. He was a captivating storyteller about life during the Great Depression and the antics of his large family on his mother’s side. A favorite was his story of going to visit Aunt Rachel and Uncle Cecil at their new apartment when he was 5-years-old. Children weren’t allowed inside, so his parents left him in the car and then everyone came to the window to wave hello. Years later he put it together: it was really the county jail they had been visiting—his aunt and uncle were serving a year-long sentence for selling bathtub gin out of a baby buggy! Although a city boy, he was sent to live on Aunt Emma’s farm in Kansas when his mother found out he’d been spending his days at the movie theater instead of at school. There, he was turned out of bed before dawn to feed the chickens and milk the cows. At the local high school in Saint Francis, he played football and became smitten with a girl named Doralene. But before he married her and had four children, he skipped out on school again to join the air force. He was just 17, but World War II was fast coming to an end, and he was desperate to see action. He was sent to Alaska for two years where the biggest fight was trying not to freeze to death.

Richard never did graduate from high school, but he went on to receive a B.S. in Mathematics at Fort Hays State University Kansas where Doralene—not coincidently—was also studying to get her teaching degree. Math always came easily to him and after graduation he was offered several jobs in the defense industry and chose one in Southern California. He went on to get a Master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering at California State University Fullerton while supporting his growing family. There were dance lessons and music lessons and endless recitals and school events that he attended; he coached his son’s soccer team, cut the grass on weekends, and played with the dogs; he taught his daughters to drive and was a patient stand-in when they wanted to learn how to couples dance. He had a quick, wry sense of humor that could catch you off guard, and puns that made everyone groan, “Dad!”. He took great joy in being a father and grandfather. He was loved and adored by all of us. He died 94-years-young surrounded by family. He is survived by his children and their spouses and children: Susan Kidwell; Mardi Kidwell and Lori Goldenberg; Janice and Russ Sansom and their sons Reed and Brent; and Craig and Elaine Kidwell and their daughter Caitlyn. His wife of 60 years, Doralene, preceded him in death in 2013.