Richard Frank Messo

Dick was born in Tacoma, Washington and lived on Portland Avenue with his mother, brother and sister. While attending school at Bellarmine he would deliver groceries and bus tables to earn money for the family. He and his friends would spend many hours at their home playing cards and enjoying jars of grandma’s homemade canned peaches. He met the love his of life, Frances, while attending business school. He talked about noticing her seated in the classroom across the hall and then and there decided to ask her out. When he did so, she was a bit shy but eventually said yes. Their dates included spending time in Fox Island with friends and playing tennis at Point Defiance and were married on February 20, 1947. They were married for 67 years and celebrated many anniversaries in the same hotel room on the beach at Seaside, Oregon, where they would feed the seagulls and enjoy the ocean view and each other’s company. They had one daughter, Karen, after being married for two years, and would wait another ten years before Jane and Richard were born. Dick loved his family and was a softie, leaving discipline to Mom. He was a very proud of all his family -- three children, two son-in-laws, four grandchildren, four great-children and one great-great grandchild -- and loved making everyone laugh with his jokes, funny faces, sounds and silly hats. His career centered around construction where he held many positions, including, architect, business owner and ended his career as project manager building apartment complexes. Dick told a story of a young man coming to him for a job one day and Dick said told him “Son, if you want someone to give you a job, you need to go back home and get a haircut, a clean shirt and some good boots.” The young man did so and Dick hired him the next day eventually making the young man a crew lead where he would become one of Dick’s best workers. Dick and Frances raised their children in Auburn where life was centered around family, friends and the golf course. Golf was the second love of Dick’s life. He was an avid and accomplished golfer earning Club Champion at Auburn Golf Course numerous times, winning many golf tournaments and celebrating several hole-in-ones during his lifetime! Dick and Frances would eventually move down to Arizona to enjoy the warm weather and live on a golf course where they would spend many hours together sipping a glass of wine, eating his famous pickled garlic and enjoying their view of the 6th hole from their deck. Dick enjoyed a long happy life but was forever impacted by the sudden death of his son, Richard. The family is now comforted knowing that Dick is reunited with Richard and you can bet that they are now both enjoying a long-awaited round of golf!