Richard A. Church, 86, died in his summer home in South Bristol on July 20 after a brief battle with cancer. He was born in Boston, Mass. on July 1, 1924, the son of Isabelle and Valette Church. Dick grew up in Waban, Mass. attending Newton High School and later Massachusetts Maritime Academy where he received his Maritime Electrical Engineering Degree. While in the merchant marines, he worked for Bethlehem Steel Corp., Wilmore Steamship Co. and Mystic Steamship Division of Eastern Gas & Fuel, carrying fuel, food, tanks and troops back and forth to Europe during WWII.
On June 8, 1946, he married Dorothy Brooks, a girl he had known since age 13. He continued traveling coastwise on Mystic Steamships as chief engineer before coming ashore in 1947 and going to work for Burton-Rogers Co. In 1948, he joined the AC Spark Plug Division of General Motors and worked there 36 years until his retirement in 1984. Dick and Dot retired to Cotuit, Mass. and lived there 18 years before moving to Walpole in 2009. They spent all of their summers at their Boathouse in South Bristol. During his retirement years, Dick spent endless hours engaged in the genealogical research and writing of the Church and Brook families in America.
He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Dorothy of Walpole; children, Brooks Church and wife Diane of Goshen, N.Y., Betsy Moorhouse and husband Hank of Newcastle, and Richard Church Jr. and wife Marilyn of Medfield, Mass.; six grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.
Celebration of life gathering 2-5 p.m., Sat., Aug. 21 at 85 West Side Rd., South Bristol.
Contributions in his memory may be made to Massachusetts Maritime Academy Foundation, 101 Academy Dr., Buzzards Bay, MA 02532.
