Richard D Fernald

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July 15, 1943 - August 17, 2011

Richard Dwight Fernald, 68, of Hot Springs Village passed away Wednesday, August 17, 2011 at an area hospital. He was born July 15, 1943 to William Henry and Mary Griffen Fernald in El Dorado, AR

He was predeceased by his parents and sister, Delores Waters. Survivors include his loving wife and friend, Barbara; son, Richard J (Jeff) Fernald; daughter , Shelia Fernald Underwood and husband, Adam, grandchildren, Molly Slyby, Shelby Tully and Carson Musgrave; stepchildren, Scott, Kevin and Cristen Strzelecki and Michelle Strzelecki Royal; step grandchildren,  Hayley, Megan, Aron, Josh and Matthew Strzelecki.  He was friend to so many that a list here would take up too much space.

He cherished Barbara, loved his life, his hunting buddies and his time spent at deer camp. Richard also loved his friends from El Dorado High School and all the friends he met here in the Village, especially to include the “Breakfast Club Group”. We will miss him dearly and how he made us laugh. He fought his cancer with a smile, strength, determination that was honorable.

Visitation will be 10:00 AM, Saturday by mass of Christian Burial at 11:00 AM in Scared Heart of Jesus Catholic Church with Father Bill Elser as celebrant.

His family has asked that in lieu of flowers, a donation be made in Richard’s name to the American Cancer Society, 901 N. University, Little Rock, AR 72207 or online to www.cancer.org to make a donation.

Arrangements are under the care of Caruth Village Funeral Home, guests may register at www.caruth-hale.com

Admin Notes:

Biography:

Richard submitted his biography in early July before he passed away in August. We believe it showed the essence of him... his sense of humor and positive attitude. We felt it should be included here.

After graduation I attended 2 1/2 years at Southern State. I majored in Engineering. I accidentally let my hours drop below 12 hours and got drafted in the Army. Boy, what a hoot!
Cigarettes, whiskey and wild, wild women. Just kidding.

At the tender age of 22, I got married and settled down. Well, I kinda settled down. The cigarettes and whiskey were still in my life, but just one woman. This I am not kidding about. Someone told me drinking would make me smarter. And I believed it. I have never seen a drunk I could tell anything to.

I worked for Arkansas Steel Company in El Dorado for a little over 4 years. They shut down. I then went to work for Mid-States Pipe Fabricating in Camden. They wanted me to go to Houston, Texas and run their engineering department. My father-in-law was pretty sick at the time and I didn't want to spend my weekends running back and forth from Houston. I left them and went to work in Little Rock for Southwest Industries. I was finally where I wanted to be. I had a company car, expense account and pretty much was my own boss. I had to answer to 2 people, the President of the Company and the owner of the company. This lasted 4 years and the owner decided he wanted to retire and shut down the company. I had made quiet a few contacts and decided to go in business for myself. I started a Structural Steel Design company and this lasted 10 years. The Steel industry went belly up and I had several clients that went bankrupt. I was lucky I lost very little money from clients.

I had done some contract work for Garver Engineers, the largest engineering company in the state and they hired me in the Bridge Design department. I worked there almost 9 years. Bridge constructing went to pot and I along with 8 other designers was laid off. So I went back in business for myself. I was lucky I got exposed to computers in 1985 and all engineering was done on computers. No more slide rule or hand held calculators to deal with. I worked for myself another 10 years and decided it was time to retire. I still do part time work as a construction consultant for Subway Development, Inc. I may work a couple of days a week and then nothing for 2 or 3 weeks. I worked on the lower 16 floors of the TCBY building in LR. I also designed some of the piping in Ark. Nuclear 1 in Russellville. I worked on the I-540 bridges and the Bobby Hopper tunnel between I-40 and Fayetteville. I also worked on the Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville.

My first wife and I divorced somewhere along the way and 10 years ago I met my new wife Barbara. We have been married for 8 1/2 years. She is truly an amazing woman. She is an angel without wings. We both like to travel and have been to Austria, Germany, Canada, Hawaii, Alaska and many other states. We are going to San Francisco in July.

On a closing note, many of you know I have colon cancer. I have been taking chemo, both oral and intravenous since last September. So far things are very positive and I plan on beating this monster. I just don't know how long it will take.

I plan on being at the reunion unless something unforeseen happens.

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