Richard Dalton Fair

Richard Dalton Fair, of Arkansas City, passed away on Friday, July 15, 2022.

Funeral services will be at 10 A.M. Saturday, July 23rd at the Shelley Family Funeral Home of Arkansas City. Burial will follow at the Rose Hill Cemetery in South Haven, KS. No visitation is scheduled. A memorial has been established in Richard’s name with St. Jude, contributions may be left in the care of the funeral home.

Richard Dalton Fair was born on a farm near Hunnewell, KS. to A. Earl and Grace (Marshal) Fair. He attended the local country school and graduated from Braman, OK high school in 1951. He then attended Oklahoma State University where he received his bachelor's degree in music education.

On August 15th,1954 Richard was united in marriage to Bonnie (Meeker) Fair in the South Haven United Methodist Church. The couple raised two children, Cheryl Wilson and Brenda Lenninger. Richard served in the U.S. Army from 1956 to 1958, honorably discharged with the rank of Sargent. He served 18 months in an army hospital in the records department in Landstuhl, Germany.  Richard went to work for the Santa Fe Railroad as a clerk and remained there for 35 years, retiring in 1990.  Richard continued to work for Morton Buildings from 1991 to 1993. Richard’s hobbies included growing roses, bird watching, feeding the birds and squirrels, attending train shows and model trains, watching the Kansas City Chiefs, and watching Oklahoma State football and basketball. He was a member of the Burford Singers, the St. Paul United Methodist Church Choir until 2016, and sang with the “Twilighter’s” senior group. He loved reading, especially to his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and teaching them all about his hobbies.

Richard is survived by his wife, Bonnie Fair; children, Cheryl (Bert) Wilson, and Brenda (Dan) Lenninger; grandchildren, Rachel (Cline) Freihoff, Charlotte (Carlos) Trillo, Riley (Haley) Wilson, Beth Ann Tracy, Daniel Tracy, and Nicholas Lenninger; great-grandchildren, Zoe Wells, William Freihoff, Mason Brown, Madison, Karli and Jeslynn Trillo, Ryland Wilson; and many nieces and nephews. He is preceded in death by his parents, siblings; Kenneth Fair, Fern Wilkey, and L.W. (Bud) Fair and a granddaughter, Lydia Lenninger.

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