Richard William Wentworth

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Richard William Wentworth, age 84, died Feb. 27, after a short bout with cancer.

Richard was born Sept. 5, 1933, in Littleton, New Hampshire, to John Henry Wentworth and Harriet Smith Wentworth. He was raised by his grandparents from age 5 to about age 15, when he started staying with his friends.

He married Christine Aldredge April 10, 1954. In the summer of 1955, his uncle asked if he wanted to go out west with him. They all packed up and moved to Spokane, Washington. He took welding classes at night while working at a lumber company. From there he worked in Alaska for a few months. He then started working as a millwright/welder on missile bases and powerhouses in South Dakota, Montana, Colorado and Wyoming.

In the early ‘70s, he started working at FMC and Allied. He and Christine divorced in 1974. After that, he bought a welding truck and went pipeline welding. The “boom” was on in Evanston and he got plenty of work in and around Wyoming.

He loved to hunt elk and he hunted all over the areas in which he was working.

In 1984, he met Debbie Smith and they were never apart after that. “I think she saved my life, as I was ‘twisting’ off after the divorce,” he said. They went to central Saskatchewan, Canada, to fish for walleye 20 years in a row.

As the welding work wound down, he started rebuilding engines and helping local ranchers when their hay equipment broke down, making parts they couldn’t find or welding up broken pieces, sharpening knives and chainsaws and making branding irons.

He loved to “shoot little holes in targets,” so he built long-range bench guns. Many came to him looking for help with their guns — he built muzzle-brakes, worked on triggers, got stuck shells out of barrels and put on new barrels and sighted in guns.

He was preceded in death by his brother, Bruce, and his sister, Deanna.

He is survived by Debbie Smith; daughter, Debbie (Al) Lindemood of Mountain View; sons, Mark (Kathy) Wentworth of Callahan, Florida, and Boyd (Kristy) Wentworth of Boise, Idaho; seven grandkids; many great-grandkids and great-great-grandkids.

Cremation is being handled by Crandall Funeral Home of Evanston. 

The family will hold a life celebration at a later date.

Condolences may be made at www.crandallfhevanston.com.