Delos E. Richards, 35, health physics technician, assisted in rescue efforts following an explosion in an atomic reactor, Atomic City, Idaho, January 3, 1961. (See case of EDWARD J. VALLARIO.)
45943 – 4578
45943-4578Obituary
Delos E. “Dee” Richards, 84, of Ivins, Utah, died on Oct. 9, 2010, of complications from cancer. He was born on Dec. 7, 1925, to John Charles Richards and Clara Olive Bacon in West Jordan, Utah.
Richards was raised on a farm in West Jordan, the eighth of nine children, and he learned the value of both hard work and a dollar. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps right out of Jordan High School in 1944 and served just over two years. The year after he returned he met his sweetheart, Patricia Nan Parker, while drinking milkshakes at Vincent Drug in Midvale, Utah. They were married on April 10, 1948, and spent 57 wonderful years together.
Richards garduated from the University of Utah with a bachelor’s degree in 1950 and spent the majority of his career testing nuclear weapons at the Nevada Test Site. Early on in his career, he was awarded the Carnegie Medal for a rescue attempt after an accident at the atomic test site in Idaho Falls.
After living in Las Vegas for 26 years, he retired in 1990 and moved to Ivins. He served faithfully in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, holding a variety of callings until his illness prevented him from attending.
Funeral services were held on Oct. 16, 2010, at the Padre Canyon Chapel, Ivins. Interment was in Ivins City Cemetery.
(Edited from an obituary provided by a family member.)