Richmond W. Haustein July 7, 1912 - February 22, 2005

Richmond W. Haustein

Richmond White Haustein was born July 7, 1912 in San Diego, California, the only child of Thomas Henry Haustein and Effie Maude White.

In his youth, he attended Florence Elementary School in San Diego and the Raja Yoga Academy on Point Loma.

He graduated from San Diego High School in 1931. Following high school, he attended California Polytechnic Institute in San Luis Obispo, California, where he studied electronics. Richmond later completed his B. A. degree at San Diego State College (now San Diego State University) in business administration. Rich also pursued flying instruction and in 1933 took his first solo flight in an open-cockpit California Cub, one of only three such aircraft ever built.

On May 24, 1941, Richmond was united in marriage to Viola Jean Haubrich in San Diego, California. To this union, two children were born, Richmond Bruce and Karen Arline.

During the years of WWII, Rich worked at Consolidated Aircraft and at the North Island Naval Air Station as an aircraft engineer, repairing and rebuilding planes which had been damaged in battle. After the war years, he returned his attention to managing his family's real estate holdings. Rich and Jean continued to live in the house they built in the Calavo Gardens area of La Mesa, California, from 1951 until September of 1999 when they moved to their current residence at 142 Amsterdam Drive at the edge of Lake Red Rock near Pella, Iowa.

Rich was a member of the San Diego High School Photography Club, the San Diego Amateur Magicians Club, The Silver Gate Motorcycle Club, The Masonic Lodge, The San Diego Amateur Radio Operators (HAM) Club, The San Diego Coast Guard Auxiliary, and The Calavo Avocado Growers Association. An amateur inventor, Rich could repair almost any mechanical device. Rich enjoyed painting, boating, camping, piloting small airplanes, wild animals, motorcycles, and a good joke. He loved the Pacific Ocean but most of all, he loved his family.

Richmond died approximately 4:15 A.M. (CST) February 22, 2005 at the Hospice Comfort House in Pella, Iowa. He is survived by his wife Viola Jean; one son and his wife, Bruce and Cathy Haustein of Pella, Iowa; one daughter and her husband, Karen and Bob Godley of Beaverton, Oregon; six grandchildren; two great-grandchild; and one half-sister, Ermine Norton of San Diego, California. He was preceded in death by his parents; two step-brothers, Clifford and Bert MacLachlan; and his step-father, Robert Bruce MacLachlan.

Richmond's body will be cremated with memorial service planned for a later date. Memorials may be sent in his name to: the Zoological Society of San Diego, Attn.: Wild Animal Park, PO Box 120551, San Diego, CA 92112-0551 or the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, Attn.: Gladys Black Eagle Refuge, 505 Fifth Avenue, Suite 444, Des Moines, IA 50309-9894.