Donald Eugene Richert

Donald "Don" Richert passed away on Monday, December 17, 2012.

Don was born in Bloomington, Illinois on February 13, 1927. He came of age during the depression and developed a strong work ethic and sense of responsibility as a result. Like many young men of his generation, he entered the Navy in 1944, serving in the Philippines until the end of World War II. He married Barbara Ann Hargis in July, 1949.

He worked as a carpenter for the Felmly Construction Company in Bloomington, Illinois until 1956. He then moved his small family to Houston, Texas and began working for the Ansul Fire Equipment Company. In 1962, he took a job with Arthur Dooley and Son, a chemical and safety company in Beaumont, Texas. He worked for this company, which became Dooley-Tackaberry in 1987, in Beaumont, Lafayette, and Baton Rouge, until 1996 when he retired. He and Barb moved back to Beaumont in 2002, to be closer to family.

Don is survived by his wife of 63 years, Barbara Richert. Other survivors include his son, Tom Richert and wife Valarie of Liberty, Texas, granddaughter Natalie Kelinske and husband Mike of West, Texas, grandson Scott Richert of Austin, Texas, and sister Wanda Richert of Plano, Texas.

Memorials may be made to the American Lung Association or Saint Jude Children's Hospital.

It would be impossible to fully describe one of the greatest people we've ever known, our grandfather - PawPaw, in just a few paragraphs. To say that he was a kind, generous, caring, intelligent and all around wonderful person doesn't even scratch the surface.

To begin, our grandfather married one of the most compassionate women who has ever walked on earth and remained loyal and loving for the remaining 63 years of his life. He then raised his son to be kind, honest, hard-working and caring, and we are thankful to be able to call that man our dad. When we were born, our grandfather was so proud, and he let us know that all the time. He was involved in every aspect of our lives and made sure we had plenty of fun times with him and our grandmother. Picnics, vacations to the beach, recording our favorite movies on the VCR, teaching us computer games and simply believing in us no matter what - this was our PawPaw.

He had many hobbies that he passionately pursued. He loved to build and paint model ships and airplanes and repairing things in his shop. He was an avid golfer, and a good one, once shooting a hole-in-one. However, one of the things many people will remember about him, and one of the things we remember most, is his love for capturing every moment with his camera. For example, if you look back at either of our baby books, the first eight pages are filled with the same picture, just slightly different angles, of us blinking and drooling.

When we were little, one of our favorite things to do at our grandparents house was watch their slides. PawPaw would set up the projector, MawMaw would pop popcorn, and we would fight over who got to click through the pictures. We would see everything from the scenery in Hawaii, to our parents wedding, to family reunions, and of course, the not-so-occasional picture of us, their much-loved grandchildren. Growing up, we could count on our grandfather to capture every wonderful moment with his camera so we would all remember the great times. There was even a Thanksgiving not too long ago when the camera was accidentally set on record instead of picture. We can now watch our family devour our entire Thanksgiving meal, over and over again.

Our grandfather loved to take pictures - to capture the images we want to remember forever. Today, we could not be more thankful for his love of photos. We have hundreds, maybe thousands of pictures documenting our lives so we can never forget how blessed we are and how many wonderful times we've shared.

However, as grateful as we are for our grandfather's fondness of snapping pictures, we're even more thankful for the camera in our heads that were able to snap 25 and 27 years of pictures with our grandfather. These pictures won't fade, they won't get lost and we won't even have to convert them to digital images. They are in our minds and our hearts forever, and we will never ever forget the great man that we are so lucky to call PawPaw.

Throughout his long life, PawPaw accomplished many things that he should be proud of, but his crowning achievement was building a small but strong family who care deeply about him and about each other. He instilled in each of us his good-natured values and work ethic and loved to watch us succeed in all of our pursuits. He took pride in knowing that under his watch all of his family had grown and flourished.

When PawPaw passed away, our small family took a big hit. But, because of the values he taught us, and the support of our many wonderful friends, we will continue to mourn his loss and celebrate all he meant to us as a patriarch, a mentor, a friend and a PawPaw.