Richard Gene Dike Jr.
Richard Dike Jr. Obituary
Richard Gene Dike, Jr, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, passed away peacefully with his family by his side on January 4th, 2021, after strong-willed battle with cancer.
Richard was born on January 5th, 1951 at St. Anthony’s Hospital to Richard Gene Dike, Sr, and Linda L. Dike, both of Oklahoma City.
He was a part of the 1969 graduating class of at Mount St. Mary’s High School and was Catholic in faith. Following graduation, he took classes at Rose State College for electronics. He worked at Southwestern Bell Telephone Company, now known as AT&T, as his career. He was hard-working and one of his accomplishments was retirement after 40 years in 2013. To find someone at the company during his time there that did not know of him would be rare. He also was an avid lover of baseball and football, that order, and his teams were the New York Yankees and Oklahoma Sooners. He was an OU season ticket holder for over 30 years and very rarely missed a game. There was not a time you could not find him in his TV room watching other sports or with his iPad set up for streaming when there were any ‘blackout’ games not televised. Another hobby of his was reading and he went to the library several times a week with his wife, Pam. Even while checking out 3-5 books at a time, Richard also enjoyed purchasing books, then donating them to the library when finished so others could enjoy the books as he did. When his daughters would question a word they did not know or try to help with a cross-word puzzle he would say, “If you read more, you’ll know more words!” He was always encouraging to learn more through reading books.
Richard met Pam Marie Jeffreys in the summer of 1971 and they were married on May 10th, 1974. He remained a devoted husband for 47 years up until his passing. They have two beautiful daughters, Sarah Elizabeth, 33, and Caroline Marie, 31. His admiration for sports is very apparent in them both. Watching or going to sporting events is something they loved doing together. He never missed an opportunity to brag about his daughters and even carried pictures of them in his wallet. If Richard were to be writing this, he would say that the three women listed above were by far what he was most proud of in his lifetime. His love was unconditional and he supported any dream they wanted to chase. He always said he wanted to give his family opportunities that he did not have growing up and he did just that without skipping a beat. There was never anything that he wouldn’t do to make sure they were taken care of. The void that his departure leaves is immeasurable.
Richard is survived by his wife, Pam; daughters, Sarah and Caroline; sister-in-law Diana, sisters, Debra and Pamela; brothers, Mark and Randall; and several nieces, nephews, cousins, and several affectionate pets and a grand-cat.
Richard was preceded in death by his parents, Richard and Linda and brother-in law Vince. Private services will be held, but our family would like to thank everyone for their kindness, prayers, and support during this difficult time. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that a donation be made in honor and memory of Richard to the foundation below.
American Cancer Society
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