Richard Winfield Bullock

Richard Winfield Bullock, born in Council Bluffs Iowa on 1 October 1936, passed away quietly in his sleep surrounded by his boys, on 20 August 2018 at 81 years old. 

He was born to Mark Winfield Bullock and Cathryn Elizabeth Sholz Bullock – who were living in South Nebraska in the town of Lincoln.  This was the year the Rural Electrification law was passed, and Rich had a lifelong admiration for the line-men and electricians he saw as a boy. His Grandfather, Carlos Motier Bullock was a Minister who lived about 200 miles to the West in McCook, Nebraska, and the family traveled there so that Richard could be baptized as a Methodist by his Grandfather.  When Rich was 14, the family moved to Dallas, Texas; where he attended Hilcrest High School and met his future wife and the love of his life, Karen Lee Noteware.  He graduated from Hilcrest high school in 1954 and then attended Texas Tech University in Lubbock.  There he majored in Electrical Engineering, and graduated in 1961 to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a radioman.  On August 19, 1960, he married Karen Lee Noteware with the promise that he would show her the world, and that she would never be bored.  In Dallas, in January of 1963 they had their first son, Christopher Winfield, and then he took them both to live on the island of Bonaire, Caribbean Netherlands – where he built radio towers and tracking equipment.  They returned to Texas and had their second son, Zachary Lee on October 14, 1964.  The family returned to Dallas for a few years before Rich accepted another overseas assignment to Kwajalein Atoll, U.S. Marshall Islands in 1967. There he built radio towers that could transmit to Naval vessels anywhere in the Pacific. They returned to Dallas in 1968, and soon took another global assignment to work in Nicosia, Cyprus in 1969. They moved to Cyprus with their two sons – and had many adventures working in the Greek portion of the Island and building radio towers.  He had promised to show Karen the world, and in the first 10 years of marriage they lived in Bonaire, Kwajalein, and Cyprus – all international locations and all beautiful islands.

They returned to the United States to live in San Jose, California in 1970, where Rich took a job with Cubic Electronics.  In March of 1970 – Rich and Karen joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, continuing a lifelong focus on spirituality and his relationship with God.  During the early 1970’s, he continued to show Karen the world, vacationing in London, Japan, and greater Europe.  They moved back to Dallas for three years, from 1971-1974, where Rich worked for Hy-Power and Aydin companies developing radio towers. On May 10, 1972; their third son, Eric Clinton was born.  It was an eventful year. In 1974, Cubic moved the family to San Diego, California, where they had their fourth son, Alexander Lawrence on 15 Feb, 1975. In San Diego – Richard Bullock built the Air Combat Maneuvering Range (ACMR) system (as seen in the movie Top Gun) to train and evaluate fighter pilots in Barstow California, as well as working on the original Military Laser Evaluation System (MILES).  That same year, he took an assignment working in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, where he built another ACMR system for advanced pilot training on the East Coast, with transmitters designed to withstand hurricane weather. After installing a similar system in 1977 in Florida, he was assigned to Sardinia in 1978 to build an ACMR over the Mediterranean. However, in 1979 the USSR falsely informed the people of Sardinia that the ACMR transmitters would create birth defects in their unborn babies, and so the Mafia forced the family to flee (giving them only 24 hours) or face assassination.

After returning to San Diego, Rich took a job with General Dynamics, and then Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) – who moved the family to live in Herndon, Virginia outside of Washington D.C. from 1983-1985.  During this time, Rich spent a year away from his family in Saudi Arabia, building Phased-Array Microwave Radar systems. In 1984, after many attempts to have a baby girl, Rich and Karen adopted Anna Lea. She was adopted in Canada and brought back to Virginia, where she became an integral part of the Bullock clan. Eventually, SAIC brought the family back to San Diego from 1986-1987.  Rich left SAIC in 1987 and took employment with Boeing as a Radar Engineer – moving the family from San Diego to North Bend, Washington in the Snoqualmie Pass. After two years, in 1989 he moved the family – now with just Xander and Anna – to Saudi Arabia where he built a network of Radars around the Arabian Peninsula that could detect stealth aircraft at range.  He completed this job and returned to Boeing in Washington in 1992 – where he worked as a Test Engineer evaluating younger Engineers and testing communications and internet systems.  In 1999 he retired for good – after 38 years as an engineer, he took his bride and moved to Chapala, Mexico to live in a villa outside of Guadalajara.  After years of sunny retirement in Mexico – they returned to Bellevue, Washington to be near their children and grandchildren from 2004 to 2007.  Rich and Karen then felt the call to serve again and moved to Utah to serve in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Genealogical library from 2007-2008.  After a series of health problems, Rich and Karen moved back to Bellevue Washington to be near family.  Rich lost his wife of 56 years, Karen, to a series of health problems on June 3, 2016.  Rich then moved to Salt Lake City, Utah to be with family – where he lived the rest of his days in retirement.

Rich was an avid radioman throughout his life, and commonly used his Ham Radio Callsign, W6TJT as a moniker. He built radio towers in his back yard, filled the guest room with Ham equipment, and spent countless hours as a boy and a man with his life’s passion, radio. He also loved to travel, especially with his wife. He circled the world nine times in his life, he saw the Pyramids, the Taj Majal, the Great Wall of China, he lived, walked, and worked on every continent of the world save Antarctica.  He was continually on the move – from place to place, and job to job, showing Karen the world and keeping life exciting.  He had a close relationship with God who, he claimed, always inspired him to push the bounds and continually seek, learn and grow. In time he served as an Elder, Seventy, High Priest, missionary, and a Bishop in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He supported the Church throughout his life. He loved his children and enjoyed serving as a Scoutmaster; especially when his boys were in the Boy Scouts of America.

Richard is survived by his brother Rob (Mary), and his sister Carol (Bob), as well as his five children (Chris (Jane), Zach (Kathy), Eric (Sandy), Xander (Judy) and Anna (Travis)), 21 Grandchildren, and 3 Great-Grandchildren.  Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m., Saturday 25 August 2018 at the Russon Brothers Mortuary at 295 North Main St, Bountiful, Utah, 84010. Friends and family are welcome to visit from 12:45 to 1:45. Interment will be at the River View Cemetery, Portland, Oregon, where he will be buried next to his wife Karen. Online guestbook available at www.russonmortuary.com