Richard “Dick” Streufert died after a long illness on Saturday, September 30 at his home in Freshwater, with his beloved wife Nancy at his side. Dick was born in Garber, Oklahoma in 1937 into a large German family of Lutheran pastors. He was raised in Oklahoma City and attended college at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, graduating in 1962 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering (BSME). Over the course of his 30-year career as a digital design engineer in the military division of Delco Electronics, his designs powered many critical military and space applications, including the mission computers for F-16 fighter aircraft. He retired in 1992 as manager of a computer processing group in the Advanced Digital Engineering Department of Delco Systems Operations in Santa Barbara.

Dick was a creative man who loved technical challenges. When he and Nancy moved in 1986 to a home off the grid at the Hollister Ranch (west of Santa Barbara in the Santa Ynez Mountains), Dick designed a solar-powered system and a wind generator to power the home. He loved the outdoors and the natural world, and his many interests included sailing (Lake Michigan and the Pacific Ocean out of Santa Barbara harbor), camping and fly-fishing in the Sierras with his Delco buddies, organic gardening, astronomy, any and all kinds of weather phenomena, woodworking, building furniture, and restoring old cars, particularly Jaguars. In 2001, Nancy and Dick moved to Humboldt County, God’s country among the redwoods, where Nancy serves as an Episcopal priest and Dick happily maintained their 29-acre property, hauling fallen trees and chopping wood and puttering around in his 1000 sq. ft. shop.

Dick was preceded in death by his parents, The Rev. Luther T. Streufert and Clara Heerwagen Streufert, his brother Norman, and his first wife Judith. He is survived by his wife of 36 years, Nancy Streufert; his sons from his marriage to Judith: Steven Streufert and Steven’s children Gitanjali Castalian and Robin Brown; Peter Streufert; and Eric Streufert, daughter-in-law Lindsay and their children Holden, Ava, and Isla; brother and sister-in-law Mark and Mary Streufert; sister Marian Jenz; nephews David Jenz and Christopher Streufert; nieces Lisa Siblik and Anna Guerard; and beloved cats Mortie and Meeso.

The family wishes to thank the doctors, nurses, aides, therapists and other staff members at St. Joseph Hospital in the Progressive Care Unit, Eureka Rehabilitation, and Hospice of Humboldt for their compassionate care of Dick during his last weeks of life.

Friends and acquaintances are invited to his funeral service and celebration of life to be held Friday, October 13, 2023, at 2 p.m. at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, 1675 Chester Avenue, Arcata. Donations in Dick’s memory may be made to St. Alban’s and will be gratefully received to support the church’s creation care ministry. Final arrangements were made by Ayres Family Cremation with care and compassion.

“For I know that my Redeemer lives,
     and that at the last he will stand upon the earth;
 and after my skin has been thus destroyed,
     then in my flesh I shall see God.”
(Job 19:25-26)

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