Richard L. Greetan

Born October 27, 1928.  Passed away November 6, 2021 at 93 years old.  He was a resident of Hemet, CA.  Richard was born in Shelby, Montana.  He went through elementary school in Montana and high school, in Port Orchard, Washington, graduating in December 1945.

He worked as a Merchant Marine, for awhile, then moved to California. In 1949, he was hired by Northrop, in Hawthorne. He met and married Nancy Chambers, in 1950.  In 1951, he joined an Air Force reserve unit, and his unit was activated.  He went to Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, TX and taught engines and systems on the same planes that he'd been working on- at Northrop. He was discharged in 1953 and went back to California, working again at Northrop.  He worked his way up from riveter, to crew chief, foreman, factory specialist, liaison engineer, and eventually supervisor over Value Engineering and Design-to-Cost.  He was a member of both national and international aerospace standards committees, and traveled widely. He retired from Northrop in 1984.

He loved the great outdoors and enjoyed skin-diving, water-skiing, hiking, motorcycle riding, camping, and hunting both small and large game.  A lifelong dream fulfilled was a moose hunt in Alaska that involved a trek of 350 miles on the Yukon River and 250 miles on the Koyukuk River, in a small boat!  He got a huge moose.  

Richard had two daughters with his wife Nancy; Dianna in 1953 and Pam in 1957.  He was married to Nancy for 27 years, and divorced.  

In 1995, he met Louise Noland, at the Elks Lodge, in Lake Elsinore.  They married in 1998, and enjoyed many years of traveling the world, both on cruise ships and land tours. They also enjoyed going camping and socializing with their friends through the Lake Elsinore Elks.

Richard is survived by his wife Louise, his 2 daughters, 4 grandchildren, and 10 great-grandchildren.  He will be missed.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Richard L. Greetan, please visit our floral store.