RICHARD L. ESTES

Big Lake resident Richard Dick Lee Estes, 77, died of natural causes at his home on July 25, 2005.

Mr. Estes was born in New Haven, Ind., on July 9, 1928. He was a member of the 3rd Air Vehicle Repair Squadron in the U.S. Army from 1946 to 1949. He moved to Alaska in 1947, living first in Anchorage and making Big Lake his home in 1977.

He worked for Alaska Sales & Service, Airport Machinery, Alaska Freightliners and Cummins Alaska in Anchorage.

From 1971 to 1974, he owned and operated R & R Truck Service. He worked for Fishers Fuel in Big Lake from 1974 to 1991 and retired in 2002 from the Big Lake Liquor Store, a business he also owned and operated.

He belonged to the Elks Club for 52 years and was a stock-car racer with ARCODA in the early 1950s. He enjoyed watching his sons race snowmachines and drag bikes.

His family wrote, "Dick was loved by his family and will be in our hearts forever."

He is survived by his wife of 51 years, Joannie; children, Richard, Cynthia and Michael and his wife, Janey; grandchildren, Jennifer, Joshua, James, Jaime, Jacob and Jesse, and great-grandchildren, Christine and Christopher, all of Big Lake.

His father-in-law and mother-in-law, Wilton and Rosella Fiedler, preceded him in death.

Donations may be made to Big Lake EMS Auxiliary, P.O. Box 520363, Big Lake, AK 99652.

Arrangements were with Valley Funeral Home & Crematory in Wasilla.