- Details
- Category: Current Issue
Richard 'Dick' Slack Lemmon
HOUSTON — Richard "Dick" Slack Lemmon, 91, died Feb. 12, 2023, joining the cosmos he loved so much. He died of cirrhosis of the liver, caused by a less-than-stellar-operation to remove a nearly gangrene gall bladder years ago.
He was born Nov. 10, 1931, in Louisville, Ky., son of the late Lyle W. Linch and Nannie E. (Field) Linch. He attended Catholic military schools including St. Aloysius in Fayetteville, Ohio, and St. Xavier in Louisville. He was adopted by Jack Lemmon when his mother married him. They moved to Rochester, N.Y., and he finished high school at St. Thomas Aquinas. He overcame, through sheer strength of character, a difficult childhood.
He served four years in the U.S. Navy, part of that with the Seabees at Quonset Point, R.I. He attained AT2 rank and worked on radios and radar. While in Rhode Island he met and married Anne E. Catanzaro. She died in 1994.
Dick had thought about being an attorney, but majored in electrical engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, on the G.I. Bill. There he reconnected with his father, who lived on a ranch there. He loved learning. He chose electrical engineering for the problem-solving challenges.
Following graduation he was hired by IBM and the family moved to Saugerties, N.Y. and he enthustically joined the space race. In 1963 the family was transferred to Huntsville, Ala. In 1972 the family was transferred to Houston, where Mission Control was a mile from the house. He was extraordinarily proud of his role in the space race. NASA “borrowed” him from IBM to serve in Mission Control during a Skylab mission. He was a guidance expert.
He said the best part of his life was living in Huntsville and “being all together.”
His hobbies included, through the years, reading, hunting, golf, bowling, travel and camping. The family took long vacations to see America and — staying on a strict schedule — they saw plenty. Starting in his childhood, photography was his top love. He took writing classes and once took a photography class by Ansel Adams. A Renaissance man, when he retired from IBM he published several “great American novels.”
He leaves his wife Maryann Lemmon of Houston, whom he married in 2002; children: Linda Lemmon of Putnam, CT, April Lemmon of Kerrville, Texas, Robin Freeland-Callaci and her husband Rich of Panama, David Lemmon, wife Ana and their children Katherine “Kat” Lemmon and Christian Lemmon of San Antonio; his half-brother Patrick Lemmon of New York; a cousin, Donna Gensheimer of Kentucky who was like a sister to him; numerous Field family members in Kentucky. He was predeceased by his first wife, Anne Lemmon (1994), his father, mother and step-father.
What kind of stock does he come from? The Field family goes back to long-ago England where there are a few kings in the lineup The Fields were original settlers of Kentucky, coming from West Virginia. In Kentucky, the family was originally bootleggers and then became distillers, creating J.W.M Field bourbon.
Dick’s middle name, Slack is the Americanized version of ancestor William Van Schleict. As the story goes, Van Schleict supplied his friend George Washington with the boats used to cross the Delaware. Washington later rewarded him with the deed to what is now Rhode Island but Van Schleict didn’t like the look of the land and tore up the deed. Later some relatives tried to get it back but the courts wouldn’t allow it.
He was loved for his dry wit and sense of humor. He’d often tell his kids he knew Tonto or had been a chef for the king of France (in real life he couldn’t boil water and got in more trouble than his children for hiding his vegetables under a piece of bread). He had high expectations both for himself and for his children. Doing the right thing was paramount. Linda Lemmon: He told me he worked full time in a grocery store while he was in college. He built himself a study area out of boxes in the back. When he was caught up with his store work, he’d study. The boss saw him there one day and asked his top employee, “Please tell me you’re on your break. Please.” He didn’t lie. He said no, knowing he would be fired. He was involved in his children’s competitive swimming. When he was tapped to serve as a finish judge he’d take his kids aside before the meet and tell them “I’m the finish judge so you’d better cream your competition because if it’s close, I’m going to have to give it to the other swimmer.”
One of his motivator phrases to his daughters was “pretty good — for a girl.”
He wanted his children to think analytically, not blindly follow. David Lemmon: “I remember sitting in a restaurant with him in League City, Texas, one day. He was looking out at a drainage ditch that had a pipe across the ditch with a large gate-looking object welded to the top on one side. We spent the whole lunch analyzing what the structure could be and why it might be there. That was an exercise repeated over and over my whole life with him.”
Dick sang on the radio when he was young. One of the family traditions was family and friends singing Christmas carols in the subdivision in Huntsville.
He donated his body to the University of Texas Health Center. A Celebration of his Life will be held at a later time.
By David Lemmon * Robin Freeland-Callaci * April Lemmon * Linda Lemmon
captions on page 6, clockwise from top left: Left: In Louisville, with his dad, Lyle Linch, at age 8.In Mission Control. With wife Maryann.With grandchildren Kat and Christian Lemmon, 2011. 'Photographer' in the Amazon jungle, 2008. Below: Family portrait with Anne Lemmon, 1962. Kids, from left: Linda, April, Robin and David.
Joanne Gatineau
N. GROSVENORDALE — Joanne (Smalarz) Gatineau, 83, of Pompeo Rd., died Feb. 12, 2023, at Westview Healthcare. She was the wife of the late Rene F. Gatineau who died on Sept. 22, 2020. Born in 1939 in Webster, she was the daughter of the late Anthony and Agnes (Grych) Smalarz.
Mrs. Gatineau worked as a secretary for the Brooklyn Correctional Center and for the Department of Children and Families as an office assistant. She enjoyed knitting fondly remembered as the “rip out queen”, making nut breads, watching movies, and taking care of her grandchildren.
She leaves her son, Peter Gatineau (Karen) of Biloxi, Miss.; her daughter, Melissa Notis (Paul) of Woodstock; her brother, Paul Smalarz of Thompson; her sisters, Mary Davis of Putnam and Florida, and Christine Benoit of Bath, Maine; six grandchildren, Rebecca Gatineau, Peter Gatineau, Jr., Kyle Notis, Christopher Gatineau, Jessica Gatineau, and Keira Notis and her daughter-in-law, Cynthia Gatineau. She was predeceased by her son, Mark Gatineau and her brother, Thomas Smalarz.
The Mass of Christian Burial will be at 1 p.m. Feb. 18 in St. Joseph Church, 18 Main St., N. Grosvenordale, with burial following in St. Joseph Cemetery. Valade Funeral Home & Crematory, 23 Main St., N. Grosvenordale.
Ian D. Peterson
PUTNAM — Ian D. Peterson, 42, of Cleveland St., died Feb. 6, 2023, at home.
Born in 1980 in Putnam, he was the son of Dorothy M. (Senechal) Peterson of Thompson and the late David S. Peterson.
Mr. Peterson worked for more than 21 years as a machine operator at Pacon Corporation in Putnam where he was adored by all his co-workers and employer.
Ian enjoyed fishing, hunting, carpentry, and rock collecting.
He will be fondly remembered as a “Jack of All Trades” and lover of life itself.
He leaves his mother, Dorothy M. Peterson of Thompson; his siblings, Renee Peterson (Cory) Hammerschlag of Putnam and Adam Murzycki (Paula Perron) of Dudley; his aunts, Sharon Bushey of Thompson, Donna Bushey of Massachusetts, Carol Senechal of Chaplin, Cathleen Lafond of Chicopee, Mass., and Linda Senechal of Killingly; nieces and nephews.
He was predeceased by his father David S. Peterson.
Visitation is from 2 to 4 p.m. Feb. 19 in the Gilman Funeral Home and Crematory, 104 Church St., Putnam.
.