Richard Steven Savage passed away at Lamun Lusk Sanchez Texas State Veterans Home in Big Spring Texas on February 24, 2019. His service and inurnment will be at Lawnhaven Cemetery in San Angelo, Texas on March 23, 2019 at 2:00 PM.
Richard was born Thanksgiving Day in Bloomington Indiana, November 25, 1953 to Wilbur and Minnie Savage. He grew up an Air Force brat splitting his childhood years between Germany and San Angelo, Texas where he graduated from Central High School in 1971. After marrying Debra Brusenhan of Monahans December 28, 1973 he served our country in the United States Air Force from 1974 through 1980 working as an Aircraft Mechanic and achieving the rank of Staff Sergeant before ending his service. He returned to San Angelo to attend Angelo State University on the G.I. Bill and received his Bachelor of Science in Biology in 1982 and his Master of Science in Plant Ecology in 1987. He was a Resident Advisor and Researcher at ASU while working on his degrees and conducted extensive plant research throughout West Texas, even identifying and naming a new cactus species in the Sonoran Desert of Mexico. After a divorce in 1982 he remarried Kathy Trail in 1985. In 1988 he moved to Jefferson City Missouri to work as a Professor in Range Science at Lincoln University. He also completed coursework toward his PhD in Wildlife Ecology at the University of Missouri-Columbia but never completed his thesis. He taught at Lincoln University from 1988 until his early retirement in 2003, which was a result of health problems associated with being struck by lightning.
Richard was a lifelong lover of music and musician, playing the clarinet and guitar. An excellent mechanic, he built, from the ground up, a 1968 Toyota Land Cruiser from two wrecked ones, which he affectionately called "The Beast". With his knowledge and love of botany he was also an avid gardener. He and Kathy divorced in 2006 and he moved back to San Angelo that year.
Richard was preceded in death by both of his parents, Wilbur E Savage Jr and Minnie Savage. He leaves behind two children TJay Savage and Jayme Rogers and eight grandchildren: DeLaynie Savage, Ty Savage, KyLeigh Savage, Ann Jayden Rogers, Phoebe Rogers, Nathaniel Rogers, Timothy Rogers, and Suzie Rogers. He is also survived by his two sisters, Kathy McBurnie and Terry Gibson and brother David Savage.
The Savage family would like to give special thanks to the staff and caregivers at the Lamun Lusk Sanchez Texas State Veteran's Home in Big Spring, Texas. They cared for and loved Richard in the last years of his life with great dedication.
In lieu of Flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Richard's name to the Lamun Lusk Sanchez Texas State Veteran's Home
