Dick was born in Staunton in western Virginia and spent most of his youth in the area. He attended Augusta Military Academy and then went to college at Virginia Polytechnic Institute before entering the Air Force for 4 years in 1951. He was stationed in CA, WA, IL and overseas in Iceland where he was a Crew Chief on F-94s and the base's radio station engineer.

He married Verna Halvorsen in 1954 and began his Boeing career the following year, eventually finding Engineering Aide to his liking. He graduated from the University of Washington with an Engineering degree in 1961 and worked most of his life with Boeing until retiring in 1988. During those years, if the plane had a "7" in it, his test instrumentation and sensors helped to certify it for flying.

During retirement Dick and Verna enjoyed traveling down to Yuma in their motorhome and revisiting their friends each year. He also loved attending his monthly luncheons with other Flight Test Retirees in Des Moines.

Dick and Verna (d. 2012) were married for 58 years and together they raised four children, Karen, Margaret, Edwin, and Vernon. Their grandchildren are Michael (35) and Brian (34) (Karen and Pat) and Jessica (16) and Sarah (14) (Margaret and Mark).