Dick Shryock died peacefully at home October 10, 2020 with his wife Julie by his side. He lived nearly all his 89 years on Bainbridge Island. Growing up in a log house on the Wing Point beach, Puget Sound was Dick’s backyard. As a child with his trusty dog, he sailed his Snipe dinghy as far as he could see.
Following graduation from Bainbridge High School in 1949, Dick attended Washington State College. In 1953 he married his BHS classmate, Mary Swendsen, and they started their family. A tour in the Army led to his deployment to Alaska with the Alaska Communications System.
Returning to Seattle, Dick earned his degree in civil engineering at the University of Washington and commenced a 30-year career with the US Army Corps of Engineers. Dick was proud of his work. He loved big construction projects, including the design and construction of Libby Dam, building missile silos during the Cold War and flood fighting across the Pacific Northwest each Spring. With the advent of mainframe computing, he designed engineering programs and managed a number of civil works projects.
In 1980 he married Julie Doland Williams. Dick delighted in parenting and mentoring his and Julie’s children and their friends, and they recall his friendly instruction and encouragement. He had fond memories of chaperoning the weekly ski bus, 4th-grade conservation camp, swim teams and other club outings.
Retirement in 1992 freed him to pursue his passions: exploring the Salish Sea and teaching youth skiing and sailing. Dick helped found Grace Episcopal Church and applied his engineering skills to overseeing the construction of Grace’s church building. He was a regular docent at Bainbridge Island Historical Museum and enjoyed sharing his lived-history of the Island and the community he knew and loved.
Dick is survived by his wife Julie, his daughters Bis Halady, Katie Greiner and Nancy Holt (Charlie), Julie’s children Bronwen Sainsbury (John) and Josh Williams (Lakshmi Muirhead), ten grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
The family asks that you celebrate Dick’s life in the affirming, welcoming, mentoring spirit in which he lived. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts in Dick’s name are invited to Grace Church (https://www.gracehere.org/give) or to the Bainbridge Island Historical Museum (bainbridgehistory.org).
