Richard Hixson

Richard Dick Stephen Hixson passed away in Great Falls on Thursday, March 9, 2017. He was 86 at the time of his death.Dick was born on May 20, 1930, in Winona, Minnesota to Joseph and Nancy Hixson. He had two younger sisters, Judy and Nancy, and an older brother, John. His father was a Captain in the Army, and during his childhood the family moved to El Paso, Texas. He graduated from Ysleta High School in El Paso where he was on the football, baseball and track squads. Dick was a talented pitcher and spent time in the Red Sox minor league baseball system. After his stint in the minors, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and became a jet aircraft mechanic, working primarily on the F-86, regarded as the finest jet fighter in the world at that time. While stationed at Amarillo Air Base he met the love of his life, Genett Thomas, known to everyone as Mickey, and they married. Dick was then transferred to Naha Air Base in Okinawa for 3 years at the end of which he made the decision to switch from jet airplanes to missiles. He found himself in at the beginning of the Atlas missile program at the height of the space race with Russia. The pressure was on to keep up with the Russian space program, which was ahead of the U.S. at that time, and the Atlas was a very important advancement in that race. Atlas was the missile that John Glenn rode on February 20, 1962, to become the first American to orbit the earth. By 1970, the Atlas program came to an end and Dick and the family, which by then consisted of Mickey, son Richard and daughters, Patty and Beverly, were transferred to Malmstrom Air Force Base in Great Falls where he worked on Minuteman missiles. He fell in love with Big Sky Country and he and Mickey decided to make Great Falls their final move. They bought a house in the new Fox Farm addition which has been there home ever since. Dick retired from the Air Force with the rank of Chief Master Sergeant, the highest non-commissioned officer rank attainable.Dick enjoyed his retirement years and used them to hone his skills on the golf course and in the bowling alley. He was a very good amateur bowler and he and Mickey were regulars in the Great Falls Leagues. He also taught himself western leather carving and for a time, had a shop in the Milwaukee Depot. He spent his final days quietly with Mickey in their Fox Farm home.He is survived by his sisters, Judy Nelson and Nancy Gingell and his children, Richard, Patty and Beverly.Memorial contributions in his memory may be made to The American Cancer Society.