Richard Fred (Dick) Stolt

A Memorial Visitation for Richard Fred (Dick) Stolt of Palatine, will held Wednesday, January 22, 2014, from 5:00 p.m. until the time of the 7:00 p.m. Memorial Service at the Ahlgrim Family Funeral Home, 201 N. Northwest Highway, Palatine.  A private family inurnment will take place at a later date at Bluff City Cemetery, Elgin, IL.  Dick passed away after 87 years on this earth, on January 17, 2014.  He was born on February 13, 1926 in Elgin, IL, the son of Miriam Stolt (nee Linder) and Fred Stolt.  Dick went to ElginHigh School where he graduated in 1944.  There he excelled in athletics including football, wrestling, track, and swimming and met his wife to be Elaine Ann (Suzy) Nish.  Right after high school Dick joined the Navy and became part of World War II serving in the Pacific theater for two years until the end of the war and then some.  He was honorably discharged and returned to Elgin where he married Suzy on November 6, 1948 at the Church of the Redeemer Episcopal Church.  He worked for Illinois Bell Telephone Company his entire 35 year career in the Chicagoland suburbs reaching the level of Wire Chief.  At his job, Dick was very good, a no nonsense, but fair boss who loved what he did and most of the people with which he worked.  Dick and Suzy had three children, Randall (Valerie), Sally (Kenneth) Nolen, and Beth (James) Recher.  He was a kind and loving husband and father who, with Suzy, ensured that the family had a warm and loving home.  In his 32 year retirement Dick loved to play golf, work in his shop, fish, build and fly radio controlled airplanes, and even found time to travel with Suzy wintering in Phoenix, AZ for 25 years.  Dick’s favorite little vices included the occasional Budweiser and cigar.  He was preceded in his death by his mother, Miriam Linder Stolt, father, Fred Leslie Stolt, and sisters-in-law, Janet Thornton Nish and Marjorie Jane Nish. He is survived by his wife, three children, granddaughters, Anne Recher, Lisa Recher, grandson, Justin (Tricia) Lechman, brother, Thomas Stolt, brother-in-law Don Nish, sister-in-law, Janet Stolt, and numerous nieces and nephews.  In lieu of flowers, memorials will be appreciated to the National Parkinson’s Foundation, 200 SE 1^st Street, Suite 800, Miami, FL 33131.