Richard Seehausen

To view Dick's Life Tribute, Click Here. Richard F, Seehausen passed away January 27, after a courageous 18 month battle against lung cancer. Richard was a resident of Tucson since 1996, and had previously resided in Rockford, Illinois since 1949. He was born March 17, 1925 in Indianapolis, Indiana where he attended Shortridge High School while working for the Associated Credit Bureaus. In 1943 he was subcontracted as an agent for the 5th Service Command's Investigative Branch of the War Department's Internal Security Division. He served in the US Navy, 1943-47; and the USAF Reserve, 1949-1955. Richard met his wife Jean Gates, of Champaign at the University of Illinois and they were married in 1948. Richard received an architectural degree in 1949 while employed as a draftsman for the Illinois State Architect. Richard and Jean moved to Rockford where he designed their home overlooking Rock River, and where he became a senior partner in the firm of Gilbert A Johnson & Associates after his 1951 certification as a licensed architect. From 1963 to 1983 he was the senior partner in charge of design of Johnson, Kile, Seehausen & Associates Inc. after which he became sole owner of Richard F. Seehausen Architect, Inc. During his fifty year architectural career he designed governmental, educational, religious, medical, commercial, residential, and retirement facilities, many of which are featured in the 20th Century Editions of Marquis Who's Who in the Midwest and the 21st Century Editions of Who's Who in America. He was president of the Northern Illinois Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, 1978-1979; and served on Governor Ogilvie's five-man commission to establish Illinois' Jail Planning & Construction Standards, 1969-71. He was a Federal Analyst during the Cold War and a Defense Department Analyst during the Cuban Missile Crisis. He was a governor of Rockford's Forest Hills Country Club, a trustee of Emmanuel Lutheran Church, a Kiwanian, a Mason and a Shriner. In 1996 the Seehausen's built their Arizona home in the Catalina Mountains north of Tucson where he was a member of the SaddleBrooke Architectural Committee, the Catalina Community Resource Center, the SaddleBrooke Community Church, and a former member of the Resurrection Lutheran Church. He was a member of the Architects' National Committee on Design. In 2010 the Seehausen's moved to the Splendido Retirement Community in Tucson. Richard especially enjoyed his family and his Rockford and Tucson friends, and traveling with his wife to all seven continents of the world. Survivors include his wife jean; daughter Lyn(Stanley) Racz; granddaughters Cameron Evans and Monroe Racz; grandsons Kyle, Daniel, Derek and Evan Seehausen; Daughter-in-law Barbara Seehausen; three nieces and one nephew, Predeceased by his son Dirk and his parents. Memorials to the American Cancer Society in lieu of flowers.