Who Is Richard Stratton

Richard and Barbara

I grew up in a normal middle class environment in Central Oregon. My heritage is a classic mixture of Scotch, Irish, English and Dutch. I served my country during the Korean War era in the Air Force for four years. I was educated in Business Administration and Physics. In my professional career, I worked in the Aero Space, Electronics, and Computer Fields.

Half of my professional life was spent in management positions; the other half was spent managing companies that I had developed. These companies were formed to take advantage of evolving leading edge technologies. Some were successful, some were not. When you walk the edge as closely as I did, you have to expect to fall once in a while. The net result has been on the positive side, so there is no complaint.

I am 75 years old. I lost my first wife to cancer after a long period of care giving and, at 73, found and married Barbara; she has filled my life with joy that I had not thought possible. I have two children -- one girl and one boy, both of whom are well established in productive careers. I live in a beautiful community (Lake Oswego, Oregon).

Upon reading this, some in the religious community would say, “You have been truly blessed by God”. I have never been comfortable with this type of thinking, as I do not feel God singles out any individual for special favors. I was raised with a fairly conservative Christian exposure. After going on my own, I felt there had to be something better and after some trial runs with several different churches, I settled on the Methodist Church which is now the United Methodist Church. This environment has given Barbara and me exposure to friends with whom we are free to explore a wide range of theology.