A while back I wrote a post about a WWII veteran who I had met and befriended at my job working for Capitol Police in Virginia. I found out today that this war hero and my friend had died on Monday of this week. I attended his visitation this afternoon and I am posting his obituary in his honor.
Robert H. Deaderick
Robert Hardin Deaderick, respected and revered by countless friends and professional colleagues, died Monday, May 26, 2008, at 90 years of age.
Born July 31, 1917, in Sanford, N.C., he grew up on Fauquier Street in Fredericksburg and attended Fredericksburg High School before graduating from Virginia Military Institute in 1940, taking a bachelor's degree in civil engineering.
In January, 1942, shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, he married his lovely wife, Jane Argenbright, of Harrisonburg, and entered the U.S. Army as an artillery officer.
Before completing service to his country in 1945, he served as a forward observer in Gen. George Patton's 7th Armored spearheading its combat advance across Europe. There, he was instrumental in liberating numerous occupied venues. He received the Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster and the Purple Heart, and was recommended for the Silver Star for gallantry in action.
Mr. Deaderick and his family settled in Richmond, where he became a consulting structural engineer and president of Deaderick & Gorley Engineers. He was responsible for many projects in Fredericksburg, including conversion of the old Shannon Farm to the Sheraton Hotel; addition to Fredericksburg Baptist Church in the 1960s; renovation of Gari Melcher's Home and Studio at Belmont in the 1970s; structural components of the Executive Office Building on Caroline Street, Fredericksburg's tallest building; and underpinning of the old National Bank building and tunnel. Later, he operated a home-inspection business.
He is survived by his wife, four children and seven grandchildren.
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