Richard "Dick" Christenson, age 86 of Rochester, passed on to a better place on Veteran's Day, November 11, 2014 at Golden Living East.

Richard Merrill Christenson was born on August 27, 1928 in Faribault, MN. He is survived by his wife, Gliceria, brother Dale (Maple Grove), sister Nola (Faribault), son Joseph (Rochester) and grandson Joseph (Tampa, FL).   As a child, he was held-over for two grades in elementary school, because he was bed ridden with pneumonia and had to learn how to walk for the second time in life.  When he was 12 years old, he built his first motorcycle with a washing machine motor and rode motorcycles throughout high school. Later, he became good at making balsa airplane models and building stilts and walking on them.

After High School, Richard enlisted in the Minnesota Army National Guard and attended Basic Training and AIT in Fort Benning, Georgia.  He was mobilized for active duty service twice during the Korean conflict.  He also served in the South Dakota National Guard and the Army Reserves.  Richard's military career ended after 26 years of service, achieving the rank of Chief Warrant Officer 2, specializing as a Tank / Armor Maintenance Chief.

Upon his return from Active Army service, Richard continued his passion of motorcycles and became a Harley-Davidson mechanic in Minneapolis.  Richard also raced and hill-climbed motorcycles along with racing midget race cars during his spare time.

Richard later applied an entrepreneurial spirit to his motorcycle passion by opening "Dick's Scooter Shop" in Minneapolis.  He was eventually drawn to Rochester, Minnesota because it was an open market, and he opened a Triumph Motorcycle franchise called "Rochester Motor Sports".  At a time when products that were made in Japan were considered "junk", Dick still kept with his entrepreneurial spirit, and opened a franchise for Honda motorcycles which proved to be lucrative in Rochester. He later sold Honda generators, outboard boat motors, lawn mowers, and Wheel Horse riding lawn mowers.

In 1967, Richard met his first and only wife, Gliceria Germano, while attending a Dale Carnegie course. Gliceria was an exchange nurse from the Philippines.  The course they were attending taught people how to win friends and influence people in life.  They were married a year later and had their only child, Joseph, in 1970.  In 1978, Richard sold his ownership in Rochester Motor Sports, and retired at age 50.  To keep busy after retirement, Richard managed his apartment buildings, coached little league soccer, and watched his son's sporting activities.  Richard later worked at Resurrection Catholic church, Rochester Public Schools, was president of the American Legion Post 446, was Chef De Garre of 40/8, and he volunteered for many other Rochester and Olmsted County organizations.  Richard also participated in a Medical Research study at the Mayo Clinic until he suffered a stroke which forced him to end his participation unfortunately along with many other activities.

A Funeral Mass for Dick will be held at 11:00AM on Tuesday, November 18, 2014 at Resurrection Catholic Church with Father Kevin Connolly officiating. A rosary will be said to begin the visitation at 9:30AM,  prior to the Mass.  Burial will be at Fort Snelling National Cemetery. Locally, military honors will be provided by American Legion Post 92.

Memorials may be directed to the family.

Macken Funeral Home is handling the arrangements and online condolences are welcome at www.mackenfuneralhome.com