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Richard S. Lord

March 7, 2017

Richard Stockton Lord, Sr. – age 93, of Oak Ridge died peacefully at Canterfield Assisted Living on March the 7th while under hospice care after a long and enthusiastically lived life.  Richard was born Apr 25, 1923 in Atlantic City, NJ.  The family moved to Pitman NJ shortly after his birth where he received all his primary education, graduating from Pitman High School July 19, 1940. He entered the University Of Pennsylvania Moore School Of Electrical Engineering and during that time he worked on the very first computer. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering in Oct 1943.  Immediately he was hired by the Eastman Kodak Company to work on an unknown project supporting the on-going war effort.  He was given a train ticket to Knoxville TN with instructions to report to a small office in that town for further directions.  In the office, he was told to go to a sedan that was being used as a bus in which he rode to Oak Ridge, TN to find out about his first job, to which he later learned was to support the building of the Atomic Bomb.  After the war he remained in Oak Ridge to become one of the world’s experts on particle accelerators, retiring in 1985, after designing the Oak Ridge Isochronous Cyclotron.  He married Kathryn Dale Hermann on July 24, 1945, raising three children: Richard Jr., Stephen and Victoria. He loved boating and became a member of the United States Power Squadron, rising to hold a national office in that organization.  He relaxed by building a second home on Watts Bar Lake himself with the help of his family. He spent hours on the trails of Tennessee hiking with his friends and family, and enjoyed recalling the tales of encountering nature’s creatures. He loved music and was a talented pianist. He had a love of sailing and a sense of adventure that he shared with his wife Kay as they took advantage of his early retirement and spent it traveling the world. In his later years he enjoyed the friends at First Presbyterian Church and his special friends and staff at Canterfield Assisted Living.  He is preceded in death by Kathryn, his wife of 69 years and his eldest son Richard Jr.  He leaves a loving family, his daughter-in-law Nina and her two children Heather and Stephen, son Stephen and his wife Nancy with their three children Stephanie, Elizabeth and Adam,  daughter Victoria (Tori) and her two sons Morgan and Pierce, and as well as six great-grandchildren.

The Memorial Service will be at Canterfield Assisted Living March 25th at 3:00 PM. In Lieu of Flowers please make donations to The Ecumenical Store House P.O Box 7057 Oak Ridge, TN 37831-7057.

Online condolences can be made at jacksonfuneralservices.com.


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