COUNCIL #9259 - POTOMAC REMEMBERS
RICHARD A ALLISON

Richard “Dick” Allison passed away from complications due to agent orange and congestive heart failure on July 4th at 5pm. He was born in Blairsville, PA on February 2nd 1937. He and Pat (Snyder) Allison were married on June 7th 1958, in Blairsville PA. We all will miss him terribly. He was a loving husband and a wonderful father. His wife Pat and he were together for 64 years. They had two children Cathy (deceased) and his son Richard “Rick”. Dick and Pat have four grandchildren and seven great grandchildren. As a family we travelled all across the US and to Okinawa to live at various USMC duty locations.

He was a proud Retired Marine Corps MasterGunnery Sergeant and loved this country and his family. “Gunny” Allison was the first enlisted Marine to have a family accompany him to Okinawa. While on the island of Okinawa he was the chief broadcast engineer for AFRTS Channel 8. His career also included a tour in Vietnam, 1970-71 (Quang Tri and Monkey Mountain) both while assigned to Armed Forces Vietnam Television and Radio Services. He survived nightly rocket attacks while at Quang Tri as the 1st Sgt and acting commander.

After his 20 year Marine Corps career, Dick was a television broadcast and systems engineer with multiple civilian organizations. He worked as a contractor on US Navy command center systems and facilities. While working on a US Navy contract he developed a large scale laser projector for command center applications and was named as a patent holder. His civilian career saw him assigned to USAF projects at Scott AFB, the US Navy Command Center at the Pentagon and London. For his final position he was posted to Stuttgart Germany for three years working for NATO.

Dick loved the outdoors and until his Agent Orange medical problems surfaced, loved the Shenandoah mountains. He also enjoyed playing his guitar. He was an accomplished musician playing to his own recorded rhythm and base lines like Mr. Chet Atkins. Whenever family or friends visited he and Pat whether in Germany or the states he was a gracious host and tour guide.

There will be a mass at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Triangle VA, on Tuesday July 19th at 11am followed by the interment at Quantico National Cemetery

In lieu of flowers please donate to the charity of your choice.