Richard Durkee III

Richard “Randy” Durkee was born in Keene, New Hampshire on July 23, 1943. As an infant, he lived for a short time in Keene, after which he lived in Winchester for the rest of his life. In 1961, he graduated from Thayer High School where he played basketball, baseball, and he played trumpet in the school band. He was a member Demolay and the Winchester Rifle Club. He was a camp counselor and a lifeguard for the ELMM Center in Winchester. After high school, Randy attended the New England Linotype School in Boston and became a certified linotype operator in January of 1962. He married Cheryl (Rich) Durkee on March 6, 1965. He worked as a typesetter for the Brattleboro Reformer and Keene Sentinel Printing Company. He bowled and played softball in Brattleboro, Vermont. He became certified as an EMT in 1972, the first year there was a national membership program. He was a member of a group that started the original ambulance service in Winchester, and he served as ambulance crew member and Winchester police officer for many years. He finished his working life as a machinist at GS Precision in Brattleboro. He proudly served as a member of the 76th Division of the United States Army Reserve for 27 years, where he was a Mess Sergeant who attained the rank of Sergeant First Class (E7). He loved animals, especially cats, and watching birds at the feeder. His dry sense of humor was quite funny, and he appreciated the humor of others, and of movies and television shows from Abbott and Costello to the Golden Girls. He had a knack for changing song lyrics to fit the current situation like Willie Nelson's, “'cross the road again, kitty's going 'cross the road again...” After holding off the disease for thirteen years, on March 22, Richard R. “Randy” Durkee, III died of cancer. He was the son of Richard R. Durkee, Jr. and Louise (Thayer) Durkee. He was predeceased by his sister, Nancy (Durkee) Ethier and her husband Rick. He is predeceased by many cats of which he was quite fond. He is survived by his wife of sixty years, Cheryl; a son Richard “Rick” Durkee, IV and wife Rene (Kangas) Brewer-Durkee, daughter Kristin (Durkee) Landry and husband Paul Landry, all of Winchester; sister-in-laws Susan Perrigo and Barbara Brewer; a step granddaughter Monique Landry and her son Jackson of Tracadie-Sheila, Canada; step grandchildren in Maine, and several nieces and nephews. He had a special place in his heart for his grandson, Richard F. Durkee. Please consider donating to the Dartmouth Cancer Center at Kingsbury Pavilion, where the family feels he received excellent care from a wonderful staff. A burial will be held at 12PM on Saturday, May 31 at Evergreen Cemetery located on Forest Lake Rd, Winchester NH.

Tributes

Richard Durkee III

July 23, 1943 - March 22, 2025