Richard Lee Darrington (Dick) reunited with his mother Afton Darrington on May 25th 2022 with family at his side. Dick dealt with many challenges during his life. Starting with polio as a child, multiple cancers and many other health ailments later in life. However, he refused to succumb to anything without a graceful fight and a great sense of humor, right up to the very end.
Dick was born in Burley Idaho March 17th,1937 to William (Bill) and Afton Darrington, he was the oldest of 5 children and grew up raising hell on the family farm in Declo Idaho. After his mother died in a tragic car accident in 1951, Bill married Laverne Sorenson where he later became a big brother to four more siblings. After graduating from Delco High School in 1955, he moved to Salt Lake City, Utah for greener pastures where he started parking cars at Hotel Utah. He thought he was pretty cool getting to drive all the fancy cars around, maybe that’s where he learned his signature “two-footed” driving technique. It is also where he met and married Audriana (Audrey) Booms in Nov 1957, later divorced. While continuing his education at LDS Business College, Dick and Audrey started their family with 3 boys, Todd, Jeff and Troy (Windie) that expanded to 7 Grandchildren and 10 Great Grandchildren. All of whom he loved dearly, along with dozens of nieces and nephews who he made a priority to stay connected to and they equally spoiled him with lunch dates, farm tours and decades of saved Christmas cards.
You could take the boy out of his Idaho farm but we could never take the Idaho farm out of the boy. Dick loved gardening and canning his and anyone else’s extra harvest. When gardening became too much the last three years he turned his green thumb towards house plants and orchids that were always in bloom. He had a passion for Opera, Theater, Art and most Sunday’s you could find him taking in church at the Tabernacle. Dick was inquisitive and loved to explore culture via his travels and he could give you full details on any global or local news story. Dick was a “foodie” before it was ever in the dictionary. Cooking, to him, was the perfect blend of three things he loved: Art, Science, and family History. His vast collection of recipes were merely guidelines to improve upon as he loved to spend hours in the kitchen preparing home cooked meals and he ALWAYS had an open seat at his table.
After his career retirement from Zimmer-Jackson he started his nearly 30 year “social career” at the Utah Jazz home arena, University of Utah sporting events and Utah Bees as an usher. He gained long life friends with co-workers and season ticket holders and he thoroughly loved being the face everyone knew and the big hug you could count on at Portal U.
He was a man of many names Big Brother, “My friend”, Dad, Uncle Dick, Papa and Gramps, he’ll answer to all and assist any way that he can, Selfless as selfless can be. Through his many health challenges, Dick decided to donate his body to Science at the University of Utah in the hopes of helping others. He will be memorialized on the Celebration of Life Monument at Salt Lake City’s Liberty Square this summer. In lieu of flowers the family welcomes donations to Huntsman Cancer Institute in Dick’s name. The family would also like to express our heartfelt gratitude to all of his Doctors and health providers at the University of Utah Hospital, Huntsman Cancer and CNS hospice care. Thank you for your talents, compassion and dignity that you all blessed him with during his treatments and care.
To know Dick is to have a one of a kind story of how he impacted your life. We would love to know your story for the family to read at a private celebration of life. Our loss is great, our love is enduring and our hearts are full knowing of the special reunion he had with his beloved mother and most of all, we hope he finally knows the answers to his two biggest questions.
What happened to the lost family recipes? And, where are his 1985 tax papers?
Just as we want to hear your stories with Dick, we want to share some from the 4 siblings he helped raise.
Stories from brother Maurice:
Dick was a lot of fun, and a terrible influence. I would have been an absolute angel as a youth, if it weren’t for Dick. (ahem). When I was a kid, I just wanted to hang around Dick, all the time – but he didn’t want to hang around his kid brother. However, if there was mischief to be made, he didn’t mind including me.
When Dick was about 14 and I was 12 (and we were motherless), Dick had a daytime driver’s license. So, we decided to sneak out at night and take the truck for a drive. To avoid detection, we pushed the truck out of the yard and onto the road. Dick drove us into town, where we saw all the sights there were to be seen (in Burley). After we were done taking it all in, we decided we needed to go swimming – our favorite thing. We found the perfect spot, and just needed to park the truck. So, Dick put it in reverse, and backed the truck into a ditch. We were stuck with a truck in the ditch and a daytime license at night. Luckily a farmer was checking his water and pulled us out of the ditch. We rolled the truck back into the yard, and went to bed, thinking we had pulled off the heist of the century. Unfortunately, the farmer who helped us had left his beaded leather gloves in our truck. When Dad saw them, Dick came up with an elaborate story involving the people across the street to explain their presence. Of course, later that day, the farmer came by to pick up his gloves, and told Dad the whole story.
But enough about the mischief. Dick could do anything if he wanted to and could do it well. When Mom died, he became the family chef using Mom’s treasured, hand-written recipes, he kept us well fed. He guarded and cared for that box of recipes for most of his life until one day they mysteriously disappeared and have never been found. I’m so grateful that after he graduated from high school, we became such close friends. I love him dearly.
Stories from sister Bonnie:
Mom and dad were in town shopping. We three older kids were home alone. Dick eight or nine decided he was going to surprise them with dinner when they came home. He set about his task by first gathering 13 of mom’s one to three week old chickens, killing and cleaning them, gizzards and all. They were surprised. When we lost our mother in 1951 from a car accident Dick became the head boss. Maurice and I still have dishpan hands from all of the pots and pans that he could get dirty from cooking a simple meal of potatoes. One day, Dick was making flowers out of nylon stockings when I walked through the kitchen. It must have made him mad because I looked up in the mirror just as he was getting ready to throw a pair of scissors at me. I ducked and that started the war. He took off running for me and I was right behind him. I saw a knife on the stove and threw it at him and pinned him to the door frame. He never tried that again. Some years back we gave Dick some horseradish. He loved his horseradish HOT. He made the mistake of putting the scrubs back out into his garden. He had lots of horseradish but not much of a garden for a few years. I loved my brother for all the thoughtful things he did for his little sister, and the love he gave me. I will truly miss talking to him on the phone. He was not only a brother, he was a wonderful friend.
Stories from sister Nan:
My first memory of Dick is him sitting on the heating grate in our living room. He always liked to sit there to read the paper because it was so warm. I remember him standing at the stove cooking. Dick made me feel so special because I was his little sister. His favorite nicknames for me were Magnolia and Nannie goat! The last thing he said to me was, “I love you Nannie goat!” Dick loved his people. He was always concerned about everyone in the family. He wanted to know how and what they were doing. He expressed his love for each of us and often. I loved that Dick loved the Arts. I went to the Opera several times with him. I loved the joy it brought to him. He taught me how to enjoy the music. He loved good food and would sooner cook his own than eat out. We spent many hours as a family around the dinner table.
Dick was a people person and never met a stranger. We will miss his sense of humor, his phone calls and his love for each of us.
Stories from brother Bruce:
Dick Darrington was a fighter and a winner. From his boyhood polio to the final ailments that took him he fought hard.
When our mom was killed in a car accident he was 14. He had to take on additional family responsibility and what he learned served him well the rest of his life. He knew how to work and took every responsibility seriously. Along the way he made friends. Not just casual but friends that loved him. From David O McKay to his many friends at the arena he won a lot of hearts. He was one of the kindest people I know. Nothing meant more to him than family. He loved his boys, grandkids, nieces and nephews more than anything. I guess at the end of the day that’s the most valuable thing any of us have.
In the past few years I got to spend a lot more time with my brother. I think that may be one of the reasons he fought so hard to live…. To bless my life with family stories that I didn’t know. To give me time to get to know him better and love him much more deeply. That’s my brother…. Doing good and thinking of others to the end.
Love ya big brother!
Published by Legacy Remembers on Jun. 1, 2022.
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