TORRINGTON – Funeral services for Richard Peter Sterkel, 88, were held Friday, June 9, 2017 at the Colyer Funeral Home Chapel with Pastor Rick Cederholm officiating. Burial was at the Hay Springs City Cemetery in Hay Springs, Neb., with military honors. Arrangements are under the direction of the Colyer Funeral Home and condolences may be sent to www.colyerfuneralhome.com.
Richard was born Aug. 27, 1928, to Peter and Amelia (Kehn) Sterkel at Martin, S.D. He was later joined by his sister Ruth. Rick spent much of his youth in the Martin/Batesland, S.D., area where he completed his elementary/high school education.
In November of 1948 he married Patricia Minnehan. He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force a short time after. They traveled to the various air bases where he would be stationed, spending the greater amount of time in Wichita Falls, Texas, but was assigned to temporary during to outlying bases such as Greenland. His daughter Angela Gail was born in 1954 when at Walker AFB in Roswell, N.M.
Rick spent four years in the military, then enrolled in broadcasting school at Minneapolis, Minn. After completing the two-year course the family moved to Glasgow, Mont., where he began his career in radio as a full-time announcer on the station there. He spent three years in that position before they moved to Kokomo, Ind., where he transferred to a
larger station.
He liked having a larger listening audience but wanted to return to the west. His next station found him in Pueblo, Colo., where he did “radio” but also began work in television. He enjoyed having a children’s program where he hosted a show talking to a dragon puppet along the lines of a “Captain Kangaroo” theme. Although he had long-enjoyed singing and playing guitar, it was at this time that he also more strongly began a musical career, which he was still involved in at the time of his passing.
After Rick’s first marriage, he married Diana Seaman, to which another daughter Melissa was born in 1967. He returned to Wyoming and ranched in Goshen County. He later found himself in another career field, working with the county’s highway department, where he experienced many interesting events about which he loved to tell, about the job-equipment-and work within that public sector.
Later in life he married Betty Cross who enjoyed retirement with him on land near Lingle, when they weren’t wintering in Arizona. He continued with his music and was also a very gifted artist, often drawing a scenario if not able to adequately verbally convey
enough detail.
Rick is survived by his wife Betty; daughters Angela Olson of Tacoma, Wash., and Melissa (Mike) Baca of Bakersfield, Calif.; grandchildren James Robert (Jaime) and family of Cottage Grove, Minn., Jason Richard (Shawna) and family of Gig Harbor, Wash/, Gabriel James of St. George, Utah, Julianna Patrice (Nate) in Spanaway, Wash., Michael Andrew (Kat) of Bakersfield, David Christopher of Rawlins, Rodrick Lee (Amy) of Edmund, Okla., and Jenny Lynn of Las Vegas, Nev.; 16 great-grandchildren; and a sister Ruth Honstein.
