Richard was one of life's beautiful souls: handsome, bright, interested, funny, kind.

He left this life as he had lived it, with courage and curiosity, intelligence and grace, and without self-pity or fuss over the disabilities he endured with curiosity, brilliance and a never-failing sense of humor. These disabilities eventually led to his death, one day before the seventh anniversary of the death of his deeply missed wife, Rita Ellen (Simmons) Dinger.

Richard was born to Harold and Bertha (Mallory) Dinger and grew up in Sumner, WA, where he graduated from Sumner High School in 1963. He enrolled at WSU, where he attended his freshman year, where he did not shine scholastically (possibly due to the first signs of the retinitis pigmentosa which would gradually but inexorably rob him completely of his eyesight). However, Richard met his lovely Rita there and was smitten. He moved home to work at Boeing but continued to visit her frequently. Drafted, he signed up with the Marine Corps, but failed the requisite physical exams because of his already-poor eyesight. He later enrolled at the University of Washington, and studied while he continued to work at Boeing, and in 1966 married Rita. He graduated in 1970 from UW with a BS in Mechanical Engineering, and they set out together for Hawai'i and his first project engineering job with the Maui Pineapple Company; they were very happy there for 4 years.  After this, Richard worked as a project engineer in San Francisco (Bechtel) and Houston (Halliburton construction subsidiary Brown & Root). Richard and Rita returned to Seattle in 1977, where he served as Chief Mechanical Engineer for Chiyoda International until 1985, when he moved to Boeing Computer Services. Throughout his entire career, his eyesight continued to diminish, but Richard was adamant about not "letting on" how little he could see, and at Boeing he worked for years longer than expected, thanks to a large monitor and early screen-reading programs. Despite his increasing blindness, he wrote more code in a year than anyone else in the department. At the age of 53, he was completely blind and applied for retirement, but he was persuaded to stay on for 3 more years, writing papers and presenting them to professional conferences.

At 56 Richard retired, and he and Rita moved to Sequim to a five-acre property where they lived well, and gardened extensively. Richard was a full participant, even unsighted, digging wells and trenches, mowing hay, and managing many of the outdoor tasks via ingenious rope barricades and other tools of his devising. During this time, his second disability showed up, a diagnosis of Parkinson's disease; his doctor told his it was a very slowly advancing type and that he would likely die of something else before the Parkinson's got bad, but in recent years it took its toll. When Rita died very suddenly in 2016, shortly before their 50 ^th anniversary, Richard was determined to continue living independently, and with the help of his Apple phone, computer screen-reader "Jaws," and some very faithful local friends, he did this successfully, even through the Covid pandemic.

Richard continued to develop his skills in mathematics, reading extensively. He loved Python and was delighted to teach it online; another online passion was chess, which he played and taught as well. He loved teaching people how to do things he loved – including helping other sight-challenged folks to use iPhones and apps to assist them in daily living. He loved reading, and usually had several audiobooks at varying levels of completion, often engaging in technical dialogue about many of them. His favorite topics usually centered around mathematics, computer code, chess, astronomy, and physics (and spy thrillers!).  He adored good food and great music, and when not listening to a book had some jazz, classic rock or opera playing at all times. He attended Sequim's Retired Scientists meetings, as well as the local meetings of the National Association for the Blind regularly, and contributed to most discussions with interest.

It was not until August 2022 that Richard's third health challenge presented suddenly, and he began to exhibit signs of Lewy Body Disease. At this time he moved to Sherwood Assisted Living, where he lived until his death on March 20. He is survived by his sisters, Barbara Jo Jansen, Deborah Louise Stann, and Merry Ann Robinson, seven nieces and nephews, and many friends, all of whom will miss him.

Luncheon celebration of life scheduled for Saturday, May 20 ^th , at 1pm at Big Elk, Sequim.

Drennan & Ford Funeral Home in Port Angeles was entrusted with his arrangements. Please sign his online guestbook at www.drennanford.com .