DEXTER, NY — Richard Bauter, 93, Dexter, died Thursday afternoon, May 30, 2019.
Born Nov. 21, 1925, in Watertown, son of Ernest and Sarah Reeves Bauter, he graduated in January 1944 from Watertown High School.
Following graduation he enlisted in the US Navy and served aboard the USS Clyte, AS26, a submarine tender in Fremantle Harbor, Perth, Australia and then attended the Naval Academy Prep School in Bainbridge, MD. He then graduated from St. Lawrence University in 1950. After graduation he was recalled to active duty, serving for two years aboard the USS Henley, a destroyer in the Korean War.
He then worked a year with the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and then took a position in pharmaceutical sales with the Dow Chemical company. He retired in 1983 as a Senior Sales Account Specialist. Later he became a Sales Consultant for Boots Pharmaceuticals and retired in 1990.
Over the years he was very active in the Boy Scouts, serving as a leader in troop and council activities. He liked golf, fly and ice fishing, and camping both in the winter and summer in the wilds of the Adirondacks, calling it his second home. Many will remember him as an avid Notre Dame football enthusiast and a proud member of its “subway alumni”.
Richard was a life member of the North Side Improvement League and a past member of the VFW, American Legion, Knights of Columbus, and Elks Lodge in Watertown and a former member of the Lions club and the Rustic Golf Club in Dexter.
Upon retiring he started carving duck decoys and songbirds using his cellar for a shop. Many of his carvings are in homes and camps around the world.
He married Catherine E. Wiley on Aug. 14, 1948, in Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Church with Fr. Francoeur officiating. It was the beginning of 61 cherished years of togetherness. Catherine died Jan. 28, 2010, at her home in Dexter.
Surviving are three sons, Richard D., Warrensburg, MO, Michael and his companion, Miriam Chaisson, Greene, ME, and Kevin and his wife Mary, Keeseville; four daughters, Patricia Ferguson and husband Clayton, Clayton, Mary Anne Mallette and husband Tom, Natural Bridge, Dianne Pockett and companion Brett McCall, Rochester, and Virginia Woolf and husband Michael, Watertown; 15 grandchildren and 23 great-grandchildren; a brother-in-law, Gerald Wiley and wife Elaine, Watertown; and numerous nieces and nephews.
A son, David, died Oct. 9, 1980. Also, a grandson, Kyle Young, two brothers, Lynn and Kenneth, and two sisters, Terri Bauter and Beverly Dyer.
His funeral mass will be celebrated 11 a.m. Thursday, June 6, at Immaculate Conception Church, Brownville with Fr. H. Michael Gaffney, pastor, presiding followed by burial in Dexter Cemetery. There will be no calling hours.
Arrangements are entrusted with Cummings Funeral Service, Inc., Watertown..
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made in his name to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105 or Hospice of Jefferson County, 1398 Gotham St., Watertown, NY 13601.
Online condolences to his family may be posted at www.cummingsfuneral.com.
