Richard Kuelbs

Richard Louis Kuelbs, born May 2, 1926, passed away peacefully on May 16, 2020. Richard recently celebrated his 94th birthday at Royal Oaks Friendship House in Sun City. He is survived by adult children Barbara Kuelbs, Richard O. Kuelbs (Sheila), Elizabeth Ortiz (Steve), and Douglas Kuelbs (Melissa); six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his beloved wife of 70 years, Sheila, who passed June 22, 2019, and their oldest daughter Laurie Schaal. The son of Louis and Helen (Ganske) Kuelbs, Richard grew up in Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, along with his two younger sisters, Joleen (Cook) and Betty (Retzlaff). He served in the U.S. Navy at the end of WWII. He graduated from the University of Minnesota, where he earned a degree in electrical engineering, and later completed a master's at Arizona State University. After marrying Sheila and working for General Electric in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, Richard and his family moved to Phoenix in 1966 where he worked for over 30 years for Honeywell as a Quality Engineer. Richard enjoyed a wide variety of interests including camping with family, investing, working in the yard, juicing grapefruit from his citrus trees and working on countless projects from a sail boat to pistachio trees. In retirement, he learned to make his mother’s pies, played golf and bridge, watched Cardinals football, and participated in activities with his church including singing in the choir. He will be dearly missed. Private family services were held.