Richard (Dick) Ernsdorff

Richard (Dick) Ernsdorff passed away peacefully on April 11th, shortly after his 98th birthday. He had been ready to go for quite a while, looking forward to reuniting with his wife, parents and sister in heaven, so the family is very sad but he wanted us to be happy for him. 

Dick was born in Yakima, Washington to apple-ranching parents Adolph and Florence. He developed a lifelong love for that dry sunny Eastern Washington climate and landscape of his childhood. Dick sadly lost both of his parents before reaching adulthood. After finishing high School and a brief college stint at Gonzaga, he joined the Air Force and had several adventurous years in the wild North country of Canada, scouting locations for radar stations and learning electronics. He used the GI Bill to get an electrical engineering degree at WSU in Pullman. After college, he married Edna who was his wife for 62 years until her passing in 2019. Dick went to work for Bell telephone, settling first in Seattle where daughter Susan was born then Spokane where son Don was born. The next stop was New Jersey where son Gary was born and Dick commuted to NYC for work. In 1969, he moved his family onto Bainbridge Island and commuted by ferry to Seattle for 16 years. Dick liked his early work years doing field work, tromping up and down hills all over Washington to site repeater stations.  On Bainbridge, Dick settled into work and family life.  He helped with boy scouts and Little League. Fishing, crabbing, and clamming were regular family occurrences and Edna was an enthusiastic participant. All family vacations involved camping only, no motels for the Ernsdorffs!  Dick returned as often as he could to his beloved Eastern Washington to hunt or fish. He loved his black lab hunting dogs. After early retirement, Dick got back to more outdoor time, especially lots of fishing. He volunteered with the Olympic National Park as campground host on the Dosewallips River. Wherever he was, he loved to walk, and occasionally took on bigger adventures- backpacking with his daughter, river rafting with his sons, commercial fishing with his neighbor and even a solo bike-packing trip down the Washington and Oregon coasts. Dick and Edna made yearly winter pilgrimages to Arizona and Mexico, and as far as Florida once.  Even in his later years, Dick kept camping and adventuring with his family. Besides 5 grandkids (Bryan, Michelle, Kevin, Finn and Beck), he also got to welcome two great-grandchildren into the world (Elliot and Mason).  Dick was very proud of his family, and had so much appreciation for his helpers during his final years.  With his infectious smile and enthusiasm for life, Dick brought joy to family, friends and strangers alike. He will be greatly missed.