Richard Arthur passed away on September 13, 2020 at the age of 92 on his farm outside of Ashland, Oregon. Dick was born in Pasadena on January 19, 1928, the fourth of five children to Charles and Lillian Arthur. The house he grew up in was always filled with art and ideas, and was a gathering place in the community. Helen Keller spoke at a salon in his living room when he was a boy. Mr Baldwin came and played on the Baldwin grand piano. That same piano is still played daily. Always good spirited, Dick was a friend to all, was the quarterback for the South Pasadena High School football team, and worked several jobs to save money. One of his favorite activities was body-surfing in the waves of the Pacific Ocean.

Within a week of graduating from high school in 1946, Dick was off to Navy bootcamp in Jacksonville, Florida. During his two years on active duty, he served as an aviation electrician on the USS Boxer and the USS Antietam, and made port calls in Japan, Tinian, and Australia.

Returning home, Dick enrolled in Claremont Men's College where he made life-long friends and was voted president of his class. After just two years, he was called home by his father to start taking over the family insurance business. From 1950 to 1995, Dick ran the Arthur Insurance Service out of the Pasadena office on the corner of Green Street and Lake Avenue. With the money saved from his high school paper route, working in grocery stores and gas stations, and his Navy pay, Dick bought a beach front property in the small  community of Sunset Beach, the same place where he had learned to bodysurf as a boy. This was a perfect place to count the brown pelicans - his favorite - as they flew along the coast.

In 1955, Dick married the love of his life, Lois Padelford. He was a devoted husband to Lois through their 65 years of marriage. During their time together, they had five children whom they treated to long summer camping trips through the American West and ocean walks and swims at the beach.

Dick will be remembered for his kindness to others, his easy laugh, and his ever-present smile even when times were hard. He was a loving and caring husband, wonderful father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, loving uncle, brother, son, and a good friend. If he wasn't with his family he was out planting flowers, weeding, and watering his acre in Pasadena, and then again at his five-acre property in Ashland. He cheered everyone with his singing and jokes.

He is survived by his wife Lois; their five children and their spouses:  Lynne (Mitch) Stanfield, Cindi (Bill) Howley), Bonnie Arthur (Craig), Dawn (Steve) Flynn, and Ric (Shelly) Arthur; and 15 grandchildren. Dick was predeceased by a grandson, and Dick's siblings, Bill '36, Grace '41, Eugene '50, and Trudy '38.

Seal Beach Sun, December 10, 2021

Dick Arthur's South Pasadena High School years were some of his favorite memories. He loved looking through his alumni book. He is greatly missed.

Lois Arthur