Services for Richard E (Dick) Bessey, 74, will be at 1 p.m. Thursday at Rumsey-Yost Funeral Home. Casual attire please.
Dick died Wednesday, January 9, 2019, at his home.
He was born January 9, 1945, in Salina, Ks, the son of Dr. Harold L and Marjorie M Bessey. He graduated from Salina High School in 1963 and earned a degree from Fort Hays State University in 1967. He lived in northwest Kansas, first in Norton and then in Phillipsburg, for over 25 years, and loved the wide open spaces of the High Plains. He moved “east”, to Johnson County Ks in 1995, and to Lawrence in 2005.
Dick taught school, and then worked for the Kansas Dept of Social and Rehabilitation Services for 20 years.
He married Gail Vertin on September 24, 1976. She survives, of the home. Dick and Gail shared a passion for bass fishing, and over the years fished Kansas reservoirs Wilson, Milford, Melvern, and Coffey County, and Missouri’s Stockton Reservoir. Since moving to Lawrence, they often fished smaller area lakes, and had great success using finesse techniques that Dick helped to develop. Dick also loved hunting (until he moved east), especially for pheasant and quail. He was an avid Jayhawk basketball fan.
Other survivors include a son, Brent Bessey, Shawnee; a daughter, Kimberly Erickson, Valley Falls; six grandchildren, Tyler, Hunter, Grace and Sophie Bessey and Courtney and Jonathan Henney; and Gail’s siblings Greg, Mike, Dee, Toni, and John.
He was preceded in death by his parents, and his sister Barbara, and Gail’s brother Steve Vertin and sister Cynthia Lee.
Friends may call from noon to 1 pm Thursday prior to the service.
The family suggests memorials to Family Promise of Lawrence, sent in care of the funeral home.
