Richard V. "Dick" Foote

Richard V. “Dick” Foote, a loving husband and father and a longtime Wichita lawyer, died Tuesday, March 22, 2022 in Wichita. He was 92. Richard was born in Winfield on February 5, 1930, to Ernest Edward and Luva Gladys (Van Huss) Foote, who owned a hardware and feed store in nearby Atlanta. In 1948, Richard graduated from Atlanta High School, where he played on the basketball team. He then enrolled in Arkansas City Junior College (now Cowley College), but soon found that he was not well-prepared for college work. Much of his education had taken place during World War II, when labor shortages made it hard to attract qualified teachers to rural towns like Atlanta. A junior college teacher, Pauline B. Sleeth, tutored him along with some other students—on her own time—to prepare them for higher education. Richard remembered this kindness for the rest of his life. He graduated from junior college in 1950 and completed his third year of college at Wichita University. His education was then interrupted by the Korean War. Richard was drafted, but rather than accepting a standard two-year enlistment in the Army he volunteered for a three-year enlistment in the Marines, after a recruiter told Richard that he was likely to get a better job if he did so. The recruiter was right. Richard was initially stationed in San Francisco, but the Marines soon sent him to Indianapolis, where he learned punch-card accounting at an IBM training facility. Richard spent his remaining time in the Marines working with IBM machines in Washington, D.C. Richard was intensely proud of his service in the Marines and spoke often of it in later life. In Washington, he led a unit that kept a punch-card record of every Marine in the Corps. With this information, his group was instrumental in selecting members for a Third Division of Marines that was activated during the war. In early 1953, Richard stood guard at the inauguration of President Eisenhower. Richard also worked on a finance project with Gen. David M. Shoup, a Medal of Honor recipient who would later become Commandant of the Marine Corps. The fact that Gen. Shoup was willing to bring hamburgers from the mess hall to his hard-working underlings in the computer room was a lesson in humble leadership that Richard never forgot. After his honorable discharge from the Marines in 1954, Richard returned to Wichita University for his final year of college. At a fateful party that year he met his future wife, Lois Earlene Moore. Both Richard and Earlene graduated from WU in 1955. Richard then started law school at Washburn University, and he and Earlene were married in January 1956. They remained happily married for 65 years, until her death at 91 in March 2021. In 1958, Richard graduated from Washburn and began a 50-year career practicing law in Wichita. He specialized in property law, a subject in which he won a citation for excellent grades in law school. As a young lawyer, he appreciated the mentoring he received from older lawyers, and he would go on to mentor several young lawyers himself as his career progressed. Richard’s service to the Wichita Bar Association included a term on its Board of Governors and memberships on several committees, including the Title Standards and the Ethics committees. In 2011, he received the WBA’s Howard C. Kline Distinguished Service Award, given annually to a lawyer “whose qualifications and accomplishments are undeniably exemplary and whose services are widely acclaimed as having made significant contributions to the honor and practice of the law.” Richard also kept busy outside of his law practice. He was a part-owner and board member for banks in Valley Center and Whitewater. He restored two 1929 Model A Fords and was a longtime member of the Wichita A’s Model A club. He was active in several Masonic organizations, including the Wichita Consistory, the Blue Lodge, and the Shrine. For many years, Richard served as the Vice-Chancellor of the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas. Above all, however, Richard was devoted to his family. He and Earlene had two sons, John Foote of Wichita and Christopher Foote (Bonnie Cockman) of Somerville, MA. They also had a foster daughter, Karyn (Vernon) Sissom of Douglass, KS, who lived with the family as a teenager in the late 1960s. Early in their marriage, Richard and Earlene purchased a house on a large parcel of land that backed up to the Little Arkansas River north of Wichita. It was an ideal place for John and Chris to grow up, with plenty of room to play—and enough room for Richard to build a garage (with his own hands) for his two Model As. Later, when the sons reached high-school age, the family moved to the Rockwood area of East Wichita. John, Chris and Karyn found that their Dad always had time for them. John and Chris fondly remember the time they shared with their Dad growing up – the countless rides home from swim practice, the monthly camping trips with the Boy Scouts (where their Dad was an assistant scoutmaster), riding in their Dad’s Model As during parades, and the occasional evening thunderstorms the three of them would watch through the boys’ bedroom window. Karyn remembers her Dad as a consistently supportive confidante, confessor, teacher, spiritual guide, friend, mentor, and the only real dad she ever knew. He always knew how to catch her when she erred, and gently guide her to improve, even when that involved pesky boyfriends rapping on her bedroom window. For John, Karyn, and Chris, their Dad’s life is an example of a life well-lived, filled with hard work, kindness, and love. In addition to his sons and foster daughter, Richard is survived by a brother, Ted E Foote of Mint Hill, NC; a cousin, Jerry Foote of West Columbia, TX; and numerous other relatives. Memorial Service will be at 1:00 pm, Monday, May 23, 2022 at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church. The service will be live streamed and available to view through St. Stephen's YouTube page, or by clicking "Watch Event" below. In lieu of flowers, a memorial has been established with St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, 7404 E. Killarney Pl., Wichita, KS 67206. Services in care of Downing & Lahey Mortuary - East Chapel.

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