Richard Lucas Thomas

Richard (Dick) Thomas was born January 10, 1949 to Cay and Lois Thomas. He joined sister Suzanne and younger brother Bob was born 18 months later. As a child, he attended Oak Grove and Barrett Elementary Schools, one of which his mom was the principal. He attended Mid Valley Middle School for grades 7 and 8 and then graduated from Wy’East High School.

He was always good in math, but he developed his love of science from an early age. He would entertain family and friends with his science set, making potions in test tubes that turned colors or foamed, and on at least one occasion, created an explosion. His curiosity of how things worked mechanically left many electronic devices in ruin. He would disassemble radios, clocks and anything mechanical he could get his hands on, some of which his parents didn’t know about until they found the pieces. And once he learned how they worked he didn’t see a need to reassemble. This love culminated with a science award from OMSI as a high school senior. He was always curious and intrigued by a challenge. He once saw on television a golfer hitting a golf ball through a phone book and decided he could do the same. So, he sat the phone book up against a tree, but unfortunately, rather than hitting the phone book, the ball hit the tree and ricocheted back, hitting him just above the eye. Bleeding, he went to the hospital for stitches and when the staff couldn’t find his parents for authorization, they asked him how he got there, to which he responded “I drove myself”. He was fourteen and although already familiar with driving, it was definitely before he had a license or permit. He participated in basketball, baseball, football and golf during high school, excelling in basketball which he played with his brother Bob.

He then went onto college at Oregon State University, which had an excellent Electrical Engineering program, even turning down a scholarship at Rochester University. He walked onto the Freshman basketball team but decided to concentrate on studies after his freshman year. While there, he developed his love of television/radio production. He was the station manager of the university’s radio station KBVR. He then pursued the production aspect of television. He was the camera man and director of OSU wrestling, which was being covered for the first time. This love resurfaced later in life.

He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering with a specialty in Computers. He was recruited by two companies; one was Control Data Corporation (CDC), a well-established company in the computer industry and the other a small startup company, offering stock options, named Intel. He accepted the offer from CDC. He often joked about how different life would have been if he was one of the initial 300 employees at Intel.

He married Patricia (Patti) Rose on June 2, 1973, one day prior to college

graduation on June 3rd. CDC moved them to Minnesota for his initial training just days later. They were there for four months where he was able to indulge in another passion; extreme weather. They experienced several thunderstorms and tornados, which of course he wanted to chase, but settled for watching them from a mattress on the floor in front of the sliding glass door. After the training they moved to the Bay Area to start his professional career where he stayed until June 1976 when they moved to Germany for Patti’s job.

They spent four years in Europe where he travelled all over Europe, Africa and the Middle East with her job. While there, he furthered his hobby as a photographer taking thousands of pictures of people, places and things. His library of photographs and slides was extensive. He even set up a dark room in the basement of the apartment provided by the consulate. Some of the more memorable trips were to Moscow, Russia; Bethlehem, Jerusalem; Jordan (including Petra); a walk across the Allenby Bridge; Egypt (including the pyramids and a trip down the Nile); Kenya (enjoying many safaris); and almost all European countries, including their famous sites. All these trips provided plenty of photographic opportunities.

In September 1980, they returned to the Bay Area where he worked for BTI Computers. In January 1982 he became a father to son, Jason, and then daughter, Becky, followed in July 1983. He continued his love of photography including his family and sites they visited. In July 1985 the family moved home to Oregon, living in Hillsboro for one year before moving to Tigard where he spent the rest of his life. After working as a consultant for a year when he first returned to Oregon, he took a job at Mentor Graphics where he joined a team of technical writers and friends he maintained until his death. Then in 1997 he joined another team at Synopsys where he worked until his retirement in 2015, again making lifelong friends.

In addition to his work, he spent time championing his children’s endeavors, mostly athletic, but educational too. He was always happy to run drills, test hypotheses and be an enthusiastic cheerleader. During this time, he participated in many family activities like family trips to Washington D.C., Disney World and annual ski trips. And much to his kids’ appreciation, he also ensured the family swimming pool was ready to enjoy every summer. However, seeing him actually in the pool was a rare occurrence.

It was during this time that he also began his second “career” as an Extra (background actor) in movies and television shows filming in Oregon. The kids first got the opportunity in 1989 to be extras in the movie Kindergarten Cop. Dick joined them in the multi-day filming, which started his love of the industry. Over the years he was an extra in many projects including Free Willy, Maverick, Mr. Hollands Opus, Nowhere Man, Music Within, Into the Wild, Leverage, Grimm and The Librarians, to name a few. Some of these allowed him to be at the screenings and even a red carpet one time. This second “career” was one he never retired from.

Another activity during this time was videography. He filmed the Girls Little League Softball World Series hosted at Alpenrose Dairy for several years. He took videos at the Quarterback Shootout charity golf tournaments, allowing him to meet several professional football players. He filmed several Les Schwab Invitational high school basketball tournaments as well as the annual Oregon East-West high school football game. But probably the most important were the many weddings of friends and

family. He particularly took pride in putting his artistic creativity into a final

wedding video from all the raw footage he took throughout their special day.

Another hobby he had throughout his life was golf. He started in high school and played some in college and while in the Bay Area, but it really became a priority when working at Synopsys where he joined a golf league. He continued this even after retirement and looked forward to it each year from May to September.He also looked forward to annual family trips to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico in May and October. He particularly loved the one in October, since they stayed at a golf resort where he golfed at least four rounds on a course developed by Tiger Woods, El Cardonal and a course ranked in the top 50 in the world, The Dunes.

His most recent passion was renewed love of Ham radio, an activity he started as a young man while growing up in Hood River. He joined a group of “HAMS” after retirement and participated in Nets (“on-the-air” gatherings of radio operators) at 10 AM, noon and then again at 7 PM five days a week, and Saturday and Sunday nights too. He loved this so much that he had alarms set in his phone to make sure he didn’t miss them and the family had to make plans around these times.

However, one of the most important things was the birth of his grandchildren: Connor Wyer (age 20), Zoey McCann (age 7) and Zach McCann (age 7). He took every opportunity to spoil them, whether it was playing board games with Connor or taking the twins to “Old McDonalds” (their term for the fast-food chain) for play time. He enjoyed spending time with them whether in the sandbox, at the beach, at an OSU game, at a playground or just at the house. He loved pretend play, always willing to be a bad guy or superhero or any other role the kids wanted. He would

especially embrace his goofy side: making silly noises, over-the-top reactions and even crazy dance moves. He would also take the time to teach them about and understand various equipment, whether it be a computer, binoculars, cameras, a guitar, a keyboard and many more.

He was so very proud of the many hats he wore in life, both figurative and literal, and will be remembered fondly for each: husband, dad, grandpa, son, brother, uncle, friend, volunteer, engineer, actor, photographer, videographer, ham, golfer, OSU Beaver fan and chocoholic.

He died March 17, 2025 at home in Tigard, Oregon after a very full life.