William Richmond 'Rick' Rochelle Obituary (1926 - 2013)

William Richmond "Rick" Rochelle passed away peacefully at home Sunday, January 13, after a brief illness. Rick was born at his grandparents' home in Dickson, Tennessee, March 7, 1926. He has sung in church choirs all his life. During WWII he joined the Navy the day before he turned 18 and was sent to Great Lakes Naval Training Station. There he sang in the Great Lakes Navy Choir. He was on a troop transport ship, the Talladega, during that war. He saw the raising of both flags at Iwo Jima. Later he was at Okinawa. He graduated from University of Tennessee with a degree in mechanical engineering and within a year was working with Brown & Root, Inc., later Halliburton, and then KBR. Survivors are his wife, Jean, daughters Elizabeth "Beth" and her husband, Steve Hetico, and Margaret "Maggie", and grandchildren Janet Schroeder, Steven Robert Schroeder, Samuel Kay and Talia Kay, and sister Susan Everett and brother Bob Rochelle. Visitation will be from 5 to 7 pm on Sunday, January 20, at Servants of Christ United Methodist Parish (formerly Park Place UMC), 3827 Broadway. A memorial service will be held at the same church Monday, January 21, at 1 pm. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations in support of the Bass Surgical Research Scholarship for The Methodist Hospital Foundation, P.O. Box 4384, Houston, TX 77210-4384, or the Baylor College of Medicine, Office of Development and Advancement, One Baylor Plaza, MS: BCM160, Houston, Texas 77030, or online at http://www.bcm.edu/advancement