Richard Danford Ecker, 84, of Fortuna, passed away peacefully on June 29, 2023, surrounded by his family. Richard, fondly known as “Dick” to his friends, was born to Danford and Alma on December 3, 1938 in St. Louis, Missouri. While Dick always liked to say he was born in “misery”, aka Missouri, Dick grew up in a happy household as an only child with his parents. When Dick was young,the family moved out to California to be closer to Danford’s sister, Nell, who lived in the Valley with her family. The Ecker’s drove across country for four days straight and settled in Hollywood.

When Danford got a job with the California Forestry Department, they moved to Alhambra to be closer to Danford’s work in Arcadia. Alma also worked at the AAA office in San Gabriel and together they created a comfortable life for their family.

Dick and Danford had a special bond that was partly based on their love of baseball that would last Dick’s entire life. From a young age, Danford would take him to games and Spring Training Camps to include Casey Stengel Park in Glendale (N.Y. Yankees), Brookside Park in Pasadena (Chicago White Sox) and Parris Hill in San Bernardino (St. Louis Browns). Collections of ticket stubs and programs with signatures of players speak volumes to Dick’s true love of the game. Throughout his youth, Dick was active in sports and loved baseball and football the most. One of Dick’s fondest memories was when he played baseball with one of his first coaches, Al Goodman. Dick would not only be friends with Mr. Goodman, but would eventually end up buying his sporting goods business from him.

Dick attended Granada Elementary School and then Alhambra High School, where he excelled at both JV football and baseball. Dick worked by sweeping floors for Mr. Goodman at his sporting goods store, W.A. Goodman & Sons, to make extra money.

Dick’s other passion during his youth was for sports cars, and he owned an Alfa Romeo Spyder, red with black interior. Dick, with his girlfriend Ann, joined a car club and would attend Rally’s and go on excursions regularly. Dick continued to work at W.A. Goodman’s after High School and would eventually go on to marry his first wife, Ann.

Not long after that, Dick was drafted into the military and would end up stationed in Texas. Dick attended basic training at Ford Ord and was then stationed at Fort Hood as Military Police (MP). During Dick’s two-year service from 1961-1963, he had the honor to be assigned to President Kennedy’s protection detail when visiting the base. Dick was honorably discharged from service when his time was served right at the time of the Kennedy assignation. Had that timing been different, his active-duty time could have been much longer. Dick remained in the Army Reserves until 1967, but returned home with Ann and their dog, Boo-Boo, to settle in an apartment in San Gabriel.

It was there they met their lifelong friends, Harry & Jean Schumacher, who lived in the same complex. Truly a “Ricardo’s and the Mertz’s” friendship, the two couples spent a lot of time together traveling to San Francisco, going to weekly dinners and were on a local bowling team.

Dick regained his employment with Al at W.A. Goodman’s and was eventually given an offer to buy Al’s parent’s house in Monterey Park, since they were aging and would be moving elsewhere. Dick and Ann were anticipating starting a family during this time, but when that became a medical impossibility, they instead turned their excitement to the adoption of their first child, Archer Danford Ecker, born April 29, 1966. Archer was a handful from a young age but was also his dad’s pride and joy as they, too, shared a love of sports, much like Dick and his father. Arch was exposed to all kinds of sports because of Dick’s job at the sporting goods store but loved hockey the most. Dick got Arch up on skates and playing hockey when he was very young, and Dick became a coach where they won many championships and tournaments over the years. Eager to grow their family, they adopted their second child, Tracy Jean Ecker, born April 23, 1970. Arch was involved in this process as much as possible, even “picking out” his sister from the choices of babies that were ready for adoption. Shortly after getting Tracy, the family bought their next home from a relative of Ann’s in north Alhambra.

Dick’s next move would be to buy the sporting goods store from his friend and boss, Al, and together with his partner Chuck Poehler, they made a go of it! They moved the business into downtown Los Angeles and the small athletic equipment supplier grew to producing uniforms for baseball, hockey, football and others, to include the Dodgers, Kings and many other premiere sports organizations. Dick and W.A. Goodman & Sons were known for their personal service and Dick would oftentimes have to bring in his best seamstress in the middle of the night after a trade announcement so they could sew on the new players name on the back of the jersey before the next day’s photo opportunity. Dick explained that they would sew the names into the fabric ; not the patches that you see on today’s uniforms.

Dick and his family remained in Alhambra for many years while Dick ran the business and raised their children until Dick eventually decided to part from his family as he grew weary of the “hustle and bustle” of the city and corporate America. Dick stayed in Southern California on his own and close with his children but began enjoying the outdoors and backpacking in his local mountains. In 1980, fate brought Dick and Deborah, his current wife, together, even though they were living different lives in different parts of the County. Dick attended a class entitled “Advanced Wilderness Survival,” while Deborah attended a “Beginning Backpacking” class from the same teacher on the other side of town. Apparently, the teacher taught both classes the same, a beginning class in backpacking. Dick stuck it out, bringing his topo maps and compass to class and helped teach the class. In the end, both classes combined for an overnight backpacking trip, and the rest they say…is history! Dick and Deborah were married in 1984 in a simple and small and beautiful ceremony. Dick and Deborah backpacked every weekend in the Angeles National Forest and loved being out in the High Sierra’s. One trip took them to the Trinity Alps where Dick met Deborah’s brother, Stephen Nesvold, and sister, Vikki Nesvold, along with her boyfriend, Marty King. They both fell in love with Humboldt County and decided to ditch the city life and move. At the same time, Deborah’s brother Tom, along with his wife Terri, decided they wanted to explore life outside of where they currently lived in San Diego as well so the four of them decided to finally move to Humboldt County and join their family members, Steve and Vikki.

Dick and Deborah bought 80 acres on the top of Buck Mountain, which they later found out was called “The Lawyers Cabin” and lived the country life. They spent their time hiking, fishing and enjoying their life together but after five years, a real winter came and at 5,000 feet above sea level they were either snowed out or snowed in for half of the year. Reality set in and they moved back into town and eventually settled in Fortuna. Deborah resumed her banking career and Dick settled into his role as the best “house spouse” ever! Dick and Deborah attended the annual Dixieland Jazz Festival every year and kept active in local clubs and political committees. Friday night dances at the local Moose Lodge were a weekly event and kept them active and social with their friends. Dick loved to cook and made sure he had dinner ready when Deborah came home. Deborah has a binder of all of his special recipes that many of his family re-create regularly. Dick was a master at the BBQ and loved being out in the backyard with his dogs amongst the flourishing vegetable garden and beautiful wisteria tree. Dick was a husband, father, Grandpa, Great- Grandpa, Uncle, friend and master Rummikub player. He was always up for a lively talk about politics, sports and the condition of the world as we know but was a sensitive and heartfelt man at heart and was an undying romantic. We all loved to listen to his stories and adventures of the past.

Dick is survived by his wife, Deborah of 39 years of Fortuna; his daughter, Tracy (Michael) of La Verne; his four grandchildren, Kenneth Ecker of Topeka, Kansas; Stephanie Pruett (Jacob) of Bakersfield; Bradley Benschop of La Verne; Lauren Gonzales of La Verne; great-granddaughter Hazel Pruett of Bakersfield. Deborah’s brothers and sister: Fred Nesvold (Pin) of Flagstaff, Arizona; Tom Nesvold (Terri) of Vista; and Vikki Nesvold-King (Marty) of Maui. He is pre-deceased by his son Archer Danford Ecker and his brother-in-law Stephen Nesvold. Nephews and nieces: Freddie Nesvold of Lafayette, Indiana; Nona Nesvold-Clements (Scott) of Waynetown, Indiana; Chris Nesvold (Lea) of Sacramento; Alex Nesvold (Melissa) of Windsor; Trevor Nesvold (Lea) of Santa Rosa; Elissa Nesvold of Eureka; David Nesvold of Oceanside and Rachel Nesvold-Bouworth (Mike) of Escondido. A lifelong lover of dogs, Dick is survived by his current companion, Cooper, who was also at his bedside while he passed. Dick has had many other special dog companions throughout his lifetime and is pre-deceased by Duke, Rebel 2, Butch & Eubie, Rebel 1, Shadow, Rebel, Sandi and Boo-Boo.

Please consider making a donation to one of our local animal shelters on behalf of Dick to the Sequoia Humane Society 6073 Loma Avenue, Eureka, CA 95503 and Redwood Pals Rescue P.O. Box 2913, McKinleyville, CA 95519. Please join us for a celebration of life honoring Dick on Saturday, September 2nd, 2023 at Rohner Park in Fortuna at noon for a BBQ and 1 p.m. for a service. Please bring your laughter and stories to tell!

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The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Dick Ecker’s loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here. Email news@lostcoastoutpost.com.