Richard “Dick” Louis Masters was born at Evangelical Deaconess hospital in Cleveland, Ohio on July 2nd, 1937 to Louis Edward and Lillian Elise Mae Masters. Dick was quite rambunctious and curious, always taking things apart to learn how they worked. He once took the family clock apart, and his Mother told him he would get in trouble if he did not get it back together running perfectly, which he did, this was when he was like 5, so quite an impressive feat. His grandfather was a master carpenter (and skilled in many trades) who lived behind his parents, so Dick spent a lot of time with him growing up. He taught Dick the love of building and making things with his hands. Although an only child, his parents took in fosters, unwed expectant mothers, wounded soldiers (his mother was a nurse) and raised collies, so Dick always had plenty of company in his home.

Dick attended Brooklyn Heights High School, and made many life-long friends. With a natural athletic build and competitive nature, he snow-skied, ran track, pole vault, competed in high dive, volleyball, and gymnastics, and excelled at them all. During the winters he took trips to upstate New York to ski, and the summers he spent working at Geneva Lake Marina for family friends, and loved water skiing and running around barefoot, taking care of customers and living the lake life with friends. He graduated in the class of 1956.

After high school, Dick went to work at a fan manufacturing company, and immediately impressed the owner with his innovations and attention to detail. He quickly became the foreman of the shop. During this time, his parents wanted to relocate from Cleveland to the suburbs, and Dick designed and oversaw construction on a new home in Parma, Ohio. He even did a great deal of stylish custom woodwork in the finished out party room in the basement. The home turned out beautifully and his parents lived there for the rest of their lives.

Dick had a desire to get out of Cleveland, and in High School had thought about going into the Marines. But, later, when foreman at the fan manufacturer, he met with recruiters for the Air Force, and decided to enlist. They gave Dick rounds of aptitude tests, and he scored quite high, qualifying him for Radar Intercept Officer training to become a Navigator, at the Aeronautical Training Base, Harlingen, TX. He thought it was funny that he flew in his first airplane ever to go be an Aviation Cadet in the AirForce. After attending the various training needed, he was stationed at McClellan AFB in Sacramento Ca. Little did he know he would soon meet his soul mate, Boots Hale.

Dick was a 2nd Lieutenant in the Air Force by then, and had gone out to a dance with a few buddies, after scrounging up some change from the cracks between the sofa in his barack’s room. He always recalled that he had enough for one drink and a soda, and was so relieved that Boots didn’t want anything when offered, as all he had was enough for a soda when they met. By the end of the evening, they had spent some time dancing, and a lot of time talking. Close to the end of the night, Dick asked Boots for her phone number, and she replied “it’s in the phone book”. Determined not to miss out on reconnecting, he asked Boot’s friend, Jeanne, to dance, just so he could get Boot’s number from her. She sealed their fate by giving him the number.

The next day he called Boots to ask her out. When she answered the phone, he said “Hi, this is Dick”, and she replied “Dick Who?” He immediately felt like he crashed and burned. Coincidentally, Boots had previously had a few dates with two other men named Dick, so she really didn’t know which one was on the other line. Once she found out which one was calling, she was delighted.

The two began to date, going to the park for picnics, and to the movies. Dick thought Boots was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, and told her so, she replied with “Oh, you haven’t seen me without make-up”. The next morning he showed up at her doorstep, Boots reluctantly opened the door, and there she stood in her robe and curlers. Dick replied “Nope, still beautiful” then wished her a good day, and left.

A month or so into their budding relationship, both only dating each other, Boots decided they needed to take a break to see if they had strong feelings for each other and would miss each other during the separation. Within a few days, Dick was missing her terribly, and making his barrack’s roommates miserable, so they took him out on the town to cheer him up. He ended up getting inebriated and convincing them to drive him by Boot’s apartment. Standing out in the front lawn, he yelled up to her window until she woke up and opened it up. He called up to her, professing his love and asking if it had been long enough of a break. She laughed at him, and told him “yes”.

Dick proposed to Boots soon after, and they began planning a wedding, which had to be moved up a bit, because soon after, Dick received orders for a new assignment, at Grand Forks AFB in North Dakota. The wedding on July 27th, 1963, was like a fairy tale, they had receptions both in Sacramento, and Parma, Ohio, and honeymooned on their way to their new life together.

Dick and Boots settled into married life in Grand Forks. Although it was frigid cold most of the time, they enjoyed their time there. They got busy creating a family, and had Christine, in 1964, Richard Jr., in 1965 (who tragically passed away a few months later from SIDS) and then Alicia, in 1967, before moving on to a new assignment in Southern California.

Dick was deployed to Vietnam in 1970. Worried about Boots being alone should he not come back, they quickly bought a house in Davis, near her parents, and he moved his family there before he left to go serve his country at war. Luckily, he survived several bombings of his quarters and flight missions doing reconnaissance for a top secret special forces squadron, and made it back home to his family. He flew 111 combat missions (628.7 combat hours) and was gone a year. Boots and Dick were very unhappy with how the military was treated. Ungrateful citizens were protesting during Boots and Dick’s reunion when Dick deboarded the plane after arriving home from the war. What should have been a wonderful homecoming to heroes who fought for their country, the families had to pass by picketers yelling hateful things. It was a low point for Dick.

Dick loved the outdoors, and while stationed at Mountain Home AFB in Idaho, he persuaded Boots to tent camp. She, needing things clean and orderly, did not enjoy tent camping much, but endured it for him and her girls, who loved being out in the wilderness. Their next assignment was to England, which gave them new experiences, and Dick and Boots took advantage of the overseas assignment and toured England, and saw the rich history around Europe. Upon returning to the states, they ended up back at Mountain Home, Idaho. This time, Dick invested in a motorhome, and the family camped out in the national forests along the Boise and Snake rivers with friends as long and as often as they could. Or they would go to Boot’s favorite places in the world, Redfish and Stanley Lakes. Boots had her refrigerator and a bathroom, and the whole family experienced true paradise under the pine trees. What a way to raise your kids.

Every base, and every assignment they were sent to, Boots and Dick settled into their new surroundings and made many great friends, friends who became family. Dick worked hard at his career (though he often said he would have done the job for free) as a navigator. Assigned to different planes, his last, and favorite was the F-111. He often reminisced about flying through canyons at Mach speeds. With terrain tracking technology, they were so close to the canyon walls and canyon floor, you felt like you could reach out and touch them. Dick described that when they went supersonic, it truly was like the scenes in many sci-fi movies where things were just a blur passing by. What a thrill. He mentioned once his crew won a Top Gun competition, and was proud that his squadrons always were without incidents, as he was the safety officer.

He was always trying to improve things, and one year spent many months in his living room cutting out patterns, and sewing prototypes out of specially crafted mylar, as he redesigned the survival pack that would attach to the back of the ejection seat in the F-111. He even won an award for his innovation after it was approved and implemented. The pack had a life raft, blanket, simple tools and necessary items to collect and clean water.

Throughout his career, Dick rose through the ranks. He was given special assignments requiring lots of studying and learning new skills, from accident investigation, sitting on juries, and being a survival school instructor. He loved his time in accident investigation, but most enjoyed attending and teaching many different kinds of survival schools, from trekking on foot through the jungle in Panama, learning how to catch wild animals, and know what’s safe to eat by natives deep in the Philippine jungle, winter survival school in Norway, to being off the grid in Italy, trying to reach a pick-up spot undetected by the authorities that were looking for the group during the operation. He often taught his girls survival skills, especially while camping. They knew how to make fires from flint rocks and the lint in their pockets, or by the friction of rubbing sticks, how to read a compass, dress wounds and splint injuries. He also taught them to leave no trace and respect for their natural resources. Dick also taught his girls how to defend themselves, and always be alert in their surroundings.

Dick and Boot’s last assignment was at Bergstrom AFB in Austin, TX. Dick was working at the Command Post at this time. Boots began bowling with an Officers’ wives’ club league, where she became friends with many of the ladies. Boots began organizing outings for the group with their husbands. Dick and the other husbands became friends and for many years, the group would go out often, they even took trips with several of them. After Dick retired, he took some classes at Austin Community College in printing, as Dick’s father owned a printing company, so he had knowledge and interest. It didn’t take long before he began teaching courses at the college.

Once Boots retired, they bought a new, bigger motorhome and made many trips visiting family and touring the US and across Canada. Their longest trip was almost 5 months on the road. Although they loved their travels, they truly did enjoy being home. Their house backed up to a greenbelt with deer, ducks, foxes, birds, etc. They would spend countless hours in their kitchen looking out, or on the back porch sitting watching the wildlife and reflecting on their good life. Dick befriended the wildlife, and they would let him come close to them while they waited for him to put corn out for the deer, or leftovers for the foxes. He had several squirrels through the years that would come into the house and sit on his lap while eating peanuts. He even tamed a lizard to eat mealworms from his fingertips. Dick was in heaven with his piece of nature in his backyard.

Once they got all the traveling out of their system, Boots and Dick settled down in the role of Grandparents. They were the best Nana & Papa and loved their grandchildren Timmy, Richard, and Angeline (yes, two were named after them), and were very active in their lives. They attended their sports activities and all their birthday parties, and had mounds of presents for each of them at Christmas. As the Grand kids got older, they took them out on special dinners to celebrate all their milestones, and would shower them, as well as the friends they could invite to join them, with gifts and love. Both Dick & Boots loved the years being grandparents, and felt so fortunate that they lived close by, so they could be there to watch their grandkids grow up, and spoil them as much as they could.

Dick and Boots settled into old age easily, feeling they had no regrets and lived a blessed life. They spent their days together in a routine. Time in the kitchen watching the news and doing the mail in the morning (maybe more like early afternoon if they stayed up talking late the night before…this happened often), running errands, then after dinner settling down to watch shows and movies. All Dick needed was to have Boots by his side.

Dick was a strict father, pushing his girls to excel in everything they did. As they grew up and became adults, he continued to care about their wellbeing and often cut out articles about safety and things he felt would better their lives and protect them from harm. He loved gadgets, innovative tools, knives, and flashlights. Everyone in the family had multiple lanterns, air pumps, and gadgets to make their lives just a little bit easier. Dick was kind and generous, and was always helping neighbors and friends with anything they needed. He was a constant researcher, and learned so many skills through the years, from electrical, building, locksmithing, printmaking, stained glass, sewing, welding, etc, and loved to use his knowledge to help others. Dick was easy to talk to, highly intelligent, but never condescending. And he never let anyone else pay the bill when out with him.

Most people may not know this, but Dick was the ultimate romantic. He professed his love for Boots daily with love notes, gifts and simple gestures. When they were younger, he would do silly pranks, like short-sheet the bed or put hangers under the sheets for Boots to find while he was gone TDY, so she knew he was thinking about her and missed her. He made up plaques that had love notes with a picture of a couple or romantic destinations and would leave them for her around the house to find. Once Boots began to eat Doves chocolates, the ones that had inspirational sayings printed on the inside of the wrappers, Dick would use whiteout and a sharpie to edit the message to personalize it to say how much he loved her or needed her. Then he would wrap the edited wrapper around another chocolate and put it back in the candy jar or leave them around the house for her to find. He would buy cards with love notes and cut out the inside printed text in the shape of speech bubbles and tape them to her make-up mirror, so in the morning she would find the messages. He bought her the new Lexus when it first came out, had her initials monogrammed on the doors in the custom striping he had put on, and made a huge red bow for her, kept it hidden in the neighbors garage, so he could put it outside for her on Christmas Day. He got down on one knee and re-proposed to her on their 25th wedding anniversary in Vegas, with a custom wedding set identical to the original one, but with much larger stones. And once they were retired, he purchased this granite stone with a message saying “P.S. I love You” on it, and every day he had it waiting on the kitchen table for Boots to find when she came down for the day. Every night Boots would put it back on the shelf where it belonged, and he would move it back to the table bright and early the next day to await her arrival. His favorite movie was “The Notebook” voicing that that was exactly how he felt about Boots. He truly loved Boots, his soulmate, she was his whole reason for being. He loved his girls, his son-in-laws, and his Grandchildren, but his world revolved around his wife.

Boots and Dick celebrated 60 years of marriage in July of 2023, and they felt blessed to have been together that long. The things they looked forward to were simple now, going out and celebrating and being with family. Dick and Boots loved being home, watching movies and shows every night. Dick would go through a catalog and order movies and TV series, and there was a never ending supply of DVDs coming in the mail to watch. But, they often would rewatch their favorites, over and over. They would stay up to 2 and 3 in the morning nearly every night. After watching their movies, they would sit together having their camomile tea and chocolates, and just talk.

Boots had scoliosis, and as she aged, her ribcage began to press in on her lungs, impeding her breathing. She had numerous bouts of pneumonia through the years, and as she aged, it was getting harder for her to get over any illness. After having a bout of shingles, she caught a cold after Christmas, which left her fatigued, and her blood oxygen levels became dangerously low. On Jan 27th, 2024, after 5 days in the hospital, Boots passed from pneumonia.

Dick was heart broken, his heart was literally broken. He became bradycardic, was dizzy and falling. He spent the next 3 months suffering, not sleeping or eating much. Because he was dizzy and weak, he was in and out of the ER to image injuries from falls, in the hospital for a week trying to figure out what was causing his sudden decline in health, moved to inpatient and then outpatient rehab to combat the decline, but his condition was just getting worse. After staying with Dick for over a month after Boots passed, Cris and her husband, Pete uprooted their lives in Arizona and quickly bought a house in the Austin area to be closer, and Alicia was taking her Dad to Doctor appts, bringing food by and keeping him company and her husband David was modifying the home to try to keep him safe, but with his decline, it was looking like he was not going to be able to live there alone much longer. Dick conveyed to his girls how sorry he was to be such a burden, and although he kept a happy appearance when with them, they could see the grief he carried.

On May 3rd, 2024, Dick took his own life. And as tragic as that sounds, it was his last selfless act to free his girls from the burden of having to put their lives on hold to take care of him. And it was his truest and biggest expression of his absolute and eternal love for his wife, he could not go on living without his Boots. They are together again, forever.

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