Col. (Ret.) Richard Lewis Garlitz

Col. (Ret.) Richard Lewis Garlitz passed away in his home in Taylorsville, UT on March 6, 2019, cared for by his loving wife, Cathy. He was 74 years old.
Richard, known to all as Dick, was born on March 30, 1944 in El Paso, Texas to Herbert Lewis Garlitz and Mary Elizabeth Merritt. Dick’s father worked in agricultural conservation and Dick learned the value of hard work at an early age working on the farm. He always put forth his best effort in his studies and graduated as the salutatorian of his 1962 class at Balmorhea High School in Balmorhea, Texas. He was actively involved in sports, quarterbacking his 6-man football team, running track, and playing basketball and tennis.
Dick was a hero to his younger brother Kenny, setting the bar high in academics and athletics. Once, when the brothers were lined up on the goal line during a football game, an opposing player grabbed Kenny’s facemask and pulled him violently to the ground. Dick immediately grabbed the opposing player and tossed him aside. Kenny attributes his success as a teacher and a coach to Dick’s influence. Dick enjoyed hunting and fishing with his father and Kenny, and he adored his gentle mother who taught him about Jesus and raised him to be a kind and respectful young man.
At the encouragement of his father, Dick pursued a career in the United States Army. He enrolled in Texas Tech University in Lubbock, TX where he double majored in math and chemistry. He graduated from the ROTC program in May 1967 as the second highest ranking cadet in his class. He was commissioned into the United States Army in July 1967 as a field artillery officer. With his natural leadership abilities, he was promoted to Captain and served as a battalion fire direction officer in Vietnam from 1969-1970. He received a Purple Heart when he was shot in a helicopter while doing aerial observation of ground troops. As fate would have it, his brother Kenny was stationed near the 91st Evac Hospital at Chu Lai when Dick arrived for treatment. When Kenny (who planned to discharge from the Army after Vietnam) went to see Dick (a “lifer”), the first thing Dick said to him was, “You need a haircut.”
After returning from the war, he was an ROTC instructor at Tarlton State University in Stephenville, TX where he also earned a master’s degree in education. In 1975 Dick was sent to a nuclear weapons unit in Germany and due to his exemplary service, he spent the remainder of his career working in the nuclear weapons field. He thrived on the structure and order of the military despite the high stress. Some of his more notable postings were in the Inspector General’s office at the Pentagon (1984-1986), commander of a nuclear weapons battalion in Germany during the height of the Cold War (1986-1988), and coordinating the logistics of closing down the Army base at Ft. Ord, California (1990-1993). He retired as a full bird colonel in July 1993.
Following his career in the Army, he chose a very low-stress job to keep himself busy. He enjoyed being a clerk at Texaco and 7-11 where he enjoyed interacting with people without a higher ranking officer breathing down his neck!
Dick married Lois Ann Cox on August 1, 1964 and together they raised four children during their 32 years of marriage. The military took them to Texas, Oklahoma, California, Kansas, Virginia, and overseas to Germany before retiring and settling in Utah. Dick became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1967 and maintained a love for Jesus Christ throughout his life.
Dick was a master storyteller and often regaled his small children with tales of princesses, ogres, wild boars, and billy goats. He loved to take his family on fishing trips, and while cooking the catch, he would tell gut-busting stories about the one that got away. Possum Kingdom Lake in Texas was one of his favorite places. Family vacations usually consisted of visiting the National Parks, camping at the KOA along the way. Dick’s great passion was photography. He loved to photograph landscapes and the details of nature’s beauty. He created several landscape portfolios, his Wonders of the West, that included landscape images with carefully handwritten descriptions of each subject. He blessed his family by documenting the mundane and the magical, giving them a visual history of their lives. His children would anxiously look forward to slide shows, trying to rush him through the landscape photos until they could see pictures of themselves.
Dick loved collecting rocks wherever he went. He polished those rocks and displayed them in large jars. His grandchildren loved looking at and holding the smooth “Grandpa rocks” whenever they visited. Dick enjoyed collecting trinkets and figurines from the different places that his family lived, especially Germany. He had an impressive collection of David Winter cottages and Delft Blue pottery from the Netherlands. He also loved reading, science fiction in his younger years and history as he got older.
Dick valued education and encouraged his children to study hard. He found great satisfaction in caring for his family and he believed that his children were his greatest accomplishment.
Dick married Cathy Lynn Collins on May 24, 1997. Dick enjoyed introducing Cathy to many of his favorite landscapes, often hiking her into the ground in order to show her an off-the-beaten-path gem that he’d discovered on a previous trip. He continued to be dedicated to his camera and Cathy supported his interests. Once, while hiking in Arches National Park, Cathy became very sick with food poisoning at the beginning of the hike to Delicate Arch. The sandstone beckoned, and Dick answered, heading off with his camera while Cathy waited miserably at the trailhead. Dick had a wonderful sense of humor. He loved to tease and play practical jokes. He always had a big smile and a cheerful countenance when he was visited by his family. Dick had a tender heart and he derived satisfaction from caring for others. In turn, he was blessed with a wonderful wife who cared for him as his health deteriorated and dementia set in. He was deeply loved.
Dick is survived by his wife, Cathy; four children and 15 grandchildren: David & June Garlitz and their daughter Aimee; Don & Lora Garlitz and their children Rachel, Nicholas, Luke, Faith, Alexander, and Truman; Becky & Zen Allred and their children Gilean, Dani, Connor, Emma, and Sam; Sue & Dan Richardson and their children Lily, Amelia, and Mackay; one great-grandchild, Henry; and his brother and sister-in-law Kenny & Kathy Garlitz and their son Tim.
He is preceded in death by his parents, Herb and Mary Garlitz, and one granddaughter, Hope Lynn Garlitz.
Services will be held at the Memorial Murray Mortuary at 5850 South 900 East in Murray, UT. There will be a viewing on Monday, March 11th from 6:00-9:00pm. The funeral service will follow on Tuesday, March 12th at 11:00am.
In lieu of flowers, Dick requested that donations be made to Wells Fargo Bank to Richard L. Garlitz Memorial.
Service Information
Viewing March 11, 2019 at 6:00 PM
5850 South 900 East, Murray, Utah





Funeral Service
March 12, 2019 at 11:00 AM
5850 South 900 East, Murray, Utah