Richard Allen Mason

Richard Allen Mason took his final trip to the hills on May 5, 2018 while surrounded by his loved ones. He had spent the last 69 days of his life confined to a hospital bed, being taken care of by the staff at Porterville Convalescent, his wife Doris and sister Judy. It was Rich's preference to not be a burden to anyone during his time of transition. Our family would like to thank all the family and friends that came to pay their respects and comfort mom. We all want to say thank you for helping Pop feel comfortable, to the staff especially Nurse Kristina Molina and Nurse Chelisa Padilla.

Rich was born in Gilroy, Ca. on June 16, 1932 to Oliver and Mildred Mason, in the home of his Grandmother Dexter. Richard's parents lived in Gilroy up until 1947 where they had four children Rich, David, Judy, and Randy. Life in Gilroy began the love of the wilderness and animals that Rich had, as his family owned a ranch. It was in Gilroy where Rich first became an avid hunter. Richard also enjoyed music, dancing, fishing and traveling. It is said that Rich's mom, Grandma Mason started dancing with Rich as a young boy, and after dancing lessons later, there was never a dance Rich wanted to miss, we are grateful that he is dancing in a new body today.

The Masons became the owners of Economy shoe Store in 1967 and it was a family business up until 1994. Rich had to leave all his classmates behind as a junior in high school when his family moved to Porterville. Rich played the trumpet and had trouble adjusting to the band size when he started Porterville High school; he always talked about how he wished Buck Schaeffer could have been his instructor when he got there, as he always tried to pay tribute to the band. Rich fell in love with his high school sweetheart Betty Maloy and in 1950 they were married. After graduation Rich went into the United States Marines, where he was stationed in Japan and worked as a helicopter pilot, he became a sergeant and worked at helping clean up after the Korean War. He was in the reserves for many years.

Rich and Betty were married for thirty nine years and became the parents of Scott Harrison in 1963, and Gregory Eugene in 1966. The boys were active in 4H and the boy scouts. Betty was a den mother and Rich participated in events that involved the boys. Rich worked at many odd jobs during the beginning of his career, grandma Mason also said that she was surprised to see Rich become a gifted carpenter as she watched his ten year old self through a kitchen window, take a hammer to an imperfect birdhouse and destroy his work. Rich was proud of his many years of working as a state carpenter and architect. Rich worked at remodeling and restoring sites such as the Springville Inn, The Ellster Building, Allensworth State Park, Battle Mountain and many Missions and state building across California during his fifty years with the state. Many of these projects he told stories about he worked on single-handedly. Rich worked as a cabinet man and he took pride in the fact that his son Scott followed in his trade and worked alongside him on many jobs. There wasn 't much that Rich could not fix; he owned rentals, and his talents were limitless.

Rich and Doris married in 1991 after keeping the honky-tonks busy for about a year of dating. Rich told Doris that he was too old to start over, she said give me ten years and it will be worth every minute, he gave us almost thirty. Rich gained two daughters Pamela and Tiffany. Rich and Doris are the grandparents of shanna, Sarah, Natasha, Nathan, Corey, and Roy. The greatgrandparents of Shane, Kennedy, Presley, Lexi, Sawyer, and one on the way. Rich took great pride in being a grandpa, Nathan being his first grandson always got the liberty of being with his grandparents. The kids learned to fish, hunt, camp, and do the right thing from their grandpa. Rich was often a man of few words because he was to the point he brought such a nature of nobility to our family. Many of his stories were about the joys in his life although there were plenty of sorrows. Rich often talked about his time in Japan visiting Mt. Fuji , his hunting trips with his dad, and his beloved brother-in-law Doug. Rich spent a short time trying to keep up with the members of E Clampus Vitus .

Rich battled with a few different aging processes. When he began to lose his sight many years ago, he would stroke the faces of his great grandchildren and shed some tears. At the end of the road Rich said I am ready, I have had a full wonderful life, Thank you but let me go. And it is with great sadness that we honored his request.

Rich was preceded in death by his father Oliver (1988), mother Mildred (2003), younger Brother David(1998), first wife Betty Malloy, Granddaughter Sarah Stevens(2015) and dear brother-in-iaw Doug Conrad.

Rich is survived by his wife Doris, sons Scott, Greg, daughters Tiffany (Art) Jennings, Pamela Potts, his 5 grandchildren, 5 great grandchildren, sister Judy, brother Randy, many nieces and nephews.

Service will be Friday May 18, 2018 10:00 AM at Myers Funeral. Millitary salute and interment will be at Hillcrest following Service. Memorial Celebration of life following at Veterans Hall, Porterville.