Richard D. Strauss

STRAUSS RICHARD DUANE, age 87, passed away on March 23rd, 2019. He was a veteran of the Korean and Vietnam Wars and retired from the US Armed Forces after serving three years in the USMC and seventeen in the US Army. He retired with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and was a graduate of the Army Command and General Staff College at Leavenworth, Kansas. After retiring from the military he was employed by the Richardson Police Department, Richardson, Texas for twenty one years. He was the Police Polygraph Examiner during his final thirteen years with the Department.

Preceded in death by parents Matthew and Kate Strauss. Survived by loving wife Margaret (Margo), beloved children Christopher, Kurt and his wife Sharon, Michele and Brian, thirteen grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

On July13, 1931, I was born in Cheney, Washington but lived the following four years in Hartline, Washington where my father was superintendent of the school. We were transferred to Republic, Washington in 1935 where we lived for eight years until my dad enlisted in the Navy for the duration of World War II. During this eight-year period I enjoyed summers at a lake but was a “loner” at home as I preferred playing with toy soldiers rather than with peers. In 1944, my mother was transferred to Spokane, Washington where she worked for the Office of Price Administration. I completed the eighth grade and the first two years of high school in Spokane. This was a difficult time for me as the school classes were much larger and more advanced than what I had been used to. My first experience with athletics started in the eighth grade where I was average size and in ability. I tried out for the varsity football and basketball teams in high school but was told that I was too small.

At the end of my sophomore year I transferred to Wilbur, Washington as my dad was discharged from the Navy and became the superintendent of the Wilbur Schools. The final two years at Wilbur were much better as I had gained eight inches and forty pounds during my sophomore year allowing me to play football, basketball, and baseball. My primary problem was my clumsiness because of my sudden spurt of growth. My mother told me I was like a” bull in a china shop”. Despite this, my participation in athletics improved my coordination to the point I made “All Conference Center” during my senior year. With regards to my grades during the first twelve years of schooling, they were only average and I disliked schoolwork, as I never was able to concentrate for any length of time on what the teachers were saying. I also had problems with retaining in my head what I was reading in the school texts. Both, my mom and dad would frequently tell me I was just not trying hard enough despite my telling them I was. These problems have been with me throughout my first twelve years of schooling and later proved to be a significant roadblock in my trying to get a college degree.

In the fall of 1949, I attended Central Washington College of Education at Ellensburg, Washington, where I played football. This was an interesting time as I was competing against returning veterans of WWII. I was 76 inches tall, but weighed only 175 pounds. Most of them weighed over two hundred pounds and had played football in the Armed Forces. It was difficult time for me, but I learned a great deal from them. During that year, my grades were just high enough to keep me from going on probation. I learned to put my class notes in outline form so that I could have a record of what the instructors were saying and also marked what I thought were major points. I would then memorize the portion of the notes and texts that I believed would be on the next test. This worked sufficiently to enable me to pass all classes, but not enough to get really high grades.

During the fall of 1950, I transferred to Eastern Washington College so that I could play football at a college that was close to where I played when in high school . I was in this college only four weeks, as I knew I would not pass my classes, as I was not studying. When two former high school friends stopped by to tell me they were going into the US Marines I decided to go with them and enlisted for three years. Going through boot camp was an experience that I will never forget but it did prepare me for my tour in Korea from March 1951 to March 1952.

When I was discharged from the USMC in 1953, I worked with a signal gang on the Great Northern Railway in Washington State for the following year.

I went back to Eastern Washington College in the fall of 1954 on the Korean GI Bill. During my second year I got a full time job with a mental hospital in addition to my attending school. Foolishly, I also got a part time job delivering paper bundle to delivery boys. This was all too much and I went on probation five times during the four years I was there. While in this school, my main goal was to get my commission as an officer in the US Army through the ROTC Program. At the end of my fourth year I was expelled despite my 2.4 grade average because I had been on probation five times for poor grades. I was allowed to go to ROTC Summer Camp to get my commission as a 2d Lieutenant in the Military Police because I had enough credits to graduate though I did not have a major.

In December 1958 I was married and had orders to report for duty with the US Army. I served for seventeen years and retired on December 31,1975. Two years prior to my retirement, my wife and I divorced with my receiving custody of our two boys. During these seventeen years I served tours in Germany, Korea, Hawaii, and Vietnam. One area I had continuous difficulty was when I was required to give staff briefings to higher authorities. I had to give the briefings by reading them off cards. Though I always knew my subjects well, if I did not use the cards I would forget to mention some of the information that I was supposed to provide. My immediate superior advised me that my mind was ahead of what I was saying and that was creating my problem. I never was able to completely correct this problem. Despite this short-coming the Army sent me back to college where I got my BA in Sociology and later my Masters in Public Administration. I used and refined the methods I developed in earlier years to take and pass military and college courses with high grades. It took an extra amount of time to successfully complete those classes but paid off as I retired as a Lieutenant Colonel.

In January 1976, I joined the Richardson Police Department as a rookie police officer (the oldest rookie in the history of the Department) and retired on December 31,1996. I served as the Department’s polygraph examiner during the last thirteen years. To become an examiner, I had to attend an eight-week Polygraph School at the University of Houston, six months internship under a licensed Polygraph Examiner, and two days of oral and written tests at Austin.

Since my final retirement, I have enjoyed playing bridge and tennis as well as traveling and reading. If I have had any significant successes in my life I owe it to the Grace of God, to the wonderful woman I was fortunate to find, love, and marry, and extra hard work and firm determination to succeed on my part.