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Richard Anderson ( Missoula 1946 )

posted: Jan 7, 2011

Dick, 87, died Oct. 18, 2010, in Hailey, Idaho. He earned a bachelor's degree in Forest Management from the University of Idaho in 1949 and a master's degree in Forestry in 1953, having studied math, physics and engineering at Long Beach (California) City College before entering the Army Air Corps in 1943.

While in the service, he was a B-24 tail gunner in Italy and took part in more than 50 missions targeting refineries and marshaling yards in southern Europe. He parachuted to safety after his plane was shot down in northern Yugoslavia. Dick worked as a snow ranger in Alta, Utah, from 1955 to 1965, and spent several summers building timber-access roads in Bridger-Teton National Forest in Wyoming. He also worked as a timber sales administrator in roadless areas. He served as a forest ranger in Idaho from 1965 to 1980.

Dick trained as a smokejumper in Missoula in 1946, finishing his stint after the 1947 season. After retirement, he built a 50,000-board-foot house in Hailey, also cultivating fruit trees as well as an indoor orange tree that never failed to produce, even in Idaho's winters.