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Record History, or it will be lost.
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Richard " Fuzzy" Runyard
1950 - 2014
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RICHARD LANCE "FUZZY" RUNYARD Age 64, of Riverside CA, died on June 16,
2014. Richard was born to Robert D. Runyard and Gwendoline M. Runyard on
April 23, 1950, in Ames, Iowa. Richard graduated from Marina High School
Huntington Beach in 1968 and soon afterward joined the
U.S. Marine Corps, attending Recruit
Training in San Diego, CA, where he earned the Expert marksmanship badge
with the highest rifle score in his training brigade. Richard received
further training on the USMC anti-tank "ONTOS" vehicle which
coincidentally his father, a mechanical engineer, had helped design.
Richard was then sent to Okinawa for further training and assigned to
the 5th Anti-Tank Battalion. In March 1969 he was deployed to Vietnam
and assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 26th Marines, where he participated
in several combat engagements against the North Vietnamese Army during
"Operation Oklahoma Hills." Richard was seriously injured later that
year, and was evacuated to Guam for medical treatment and later to other
Navy hospitals in California. He received a
Purple Heart, among other military
decorations. Richard returned to work following his discharge from the
Marine Corps, and was employed at the Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach
and later the Naval Surface Warfare Center Corona, where he retired in
2007 as Facility Contracts Manager. Richard was an avid outdoors person,
and his interests ranged from hunting and deep-sea fishing to leading a
military simulation "airsoft" organization, in which his son Sean
participated. But his greatest recreational efforts focused on gold
mining, which took him from California to Alaska and back again. In his
last years of life he and a friend developed a working claim in the
historic gold country of California. Richard was also particularly fond
of his Alaskan Malamute dogs. Richard is survived by his wife Tinie and
son Sean; his brothers Robert, Bruce, and John; nephews Robin and
Travis; nieces Anna and Jesse; and cousin Pauline Tremain of Waiheke
Island, New Zealand. A memorial service will be held at Immanuel
Lutheran Church, 5545 Alessandro Blvd. in Riverside on June 25 at 1:30
PM. Burial service will be the following day at 10:15 AM at Riverside
National Cemetery.
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FUZZY
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Original 09/18/14
Updated 09/24/2014
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