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(Jan. 18, 1925 - Feb. 27, 2013)
Richard A. Haberstroh of Cody died at West Park Hospital’s Spirit Mountain Hospice House on Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013. He was 88.
Richard was born on Jan. 18, 1925 in Astoria, N.Y., to Ernst and Luise Haberstroh. He was raised and educated in the Queens and Manhattan areas, attending grade school and high school there.
Being of a restless nature, he traveled to Wyoming after high school in the spring of 1942 and worked on several ranches until September 1943. He entered the Navy in September 1943 and was engaged in convoy duty in the North Atlantic during the Normandy invasion. He was later honorably discharged in December 1945. Under the GI Bill, he subsequently attended and graduated from the NYS Agricultural and Technical Institute in Delhi, N.Y., in 1948.
On Jan. 7, 1951, he married Eileen B. Murray, who survives him after 62 years of marriage. Shortly after their marriage, Dick and Eileen moved to Phoenix, Ariz., where Dick was employed by the Mountain States Telephone & Telegraph Co. as a lineman. After two years there he returned to New York and worked as Shipwright building wooden minesweepers for the Korean War. He then was employed by IBM in Kingston, N.Y., in 1955, where he worked for the next 32 years. He worked several positions there; however he retired after working 22 years in IBM Counsel’s office as a legal analyst.
Dick was especially fond of horses and dogs and trained horses for western show events. He was fond of fly fishing and also managed Little League teams for 15 years as his three sons were growing up. He was an avid reader and conservationist, always maintaining compost heaps and gardens. In 1981 he installed a solar hot water heater system on their house in Willow, N.Y. He was a firm believer that alternative energy was the way to go if the planet was to survive.
Dick is survived by his wife Eileen; his daughter Wendy A. Haberstroh; three sons Mark R. Haberstroh, Keith W. Haberstroh and Stephen Haberstroh; plus seven fine grandchildren and one great-grandson, Samuel J. Haberstroh.
Memorial donations can be made to the Park County Animal Shelter, 5537 Greybull Highway, Cody, WY, 82414.
An online memorial is available at www.ballardfh.com.
