28 January 1939 – 24 January 2022
Richard W Adler was called home to his Heavenly Father on 24 January 2022 and is joyfully harmonizing with the angelic choir. He was a good and faithful servant who loved his God, family, and community. He marveled at the beauty of God’s creation and loved to travel.
Richard attended Concordia Lutheran Teachers College, River Forest, IL. He met Loretta Duering while student teaching at Word of Life Lutheran School in St Louis. He graduated and received his call from the LCMS Board of Missions in 1962 to serve in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Richard and Loretta were married on August 4, 1962, went to mission school and then to PNG where they served for twenty years. Upon returning to the US, they settled in Saint Louis where Richard was the principal at Holy Cross Lutheran School. Throughout his retirement he continued to faithfully serve his church in many ways.
Richard is survived by two of his brothers John and Bob Adler (Minnesota); his daughters Jennifer Bess and Krista Young, and grandchildren Alex, Erin, Paige and Zoe Bess and Sydney and Grace Young. He will be dearly missed by his family and friends around the world.
The celebration of life memorial service will be held 5 February 2022 at Mount Calvary Lutheran Church (9321 LItzsinger Rd, Brentwood 62144) at 11:30am. The service will be broadcast on FB Live through Mt Calvary’s Facebook page ‘mountcalvarylutheranbrentwood’ or through the website www.mtcalvarylcms.org
In lieu of flowers, the family would invite you to give a memorial in Richard’s name to Mount Calvary Lutheran Church. Gifts can be mailed to the church or given online at mtcalvarylcms.org.
“Well done, good and faithful servant…
Enter into the joy of your master.”
Matthew 25:21
Krista and family, I am very sorry for your loss. I have friends who knew you guys through the mission field and spoke highly of him and his mission work
Mr. Adler was a wonderful teacher and a principal at Holy Cross Lutheran School where I attended K-8th grade. I have wonderful memories of him and am lucky to have had him in my life. Prayers for your family during this time.
Richard was a fun granpa, I remember him enjoying being in Kenya and enjoying the respect Kenyans give to the eldery. I remember the fun games nights as he enjoyed playing card games with us and making fun of Joels jokes. Krista & Joel, we are praying for you and surely he was a good, faithful servant.
Prayers are very high to entire family. I remember him from the 80’s when I went to school where he was the principal. He will be missed. Much love and prayers
I was proud to serve with him at Holy Cross.
We served with him at Holy Cross from 1990 to 1992 while at seminary. He was caring and supportive to the faculty and children. We cherished Christmas contacts with him across another nearly 3 decades since then. We celebrate his victory and reunion now with Loretta and all the saints in glory.
Dick was a great friend of ours as we have known him since the late 50’s and served with him in Papua New Guinea. A story so typical of Dick was, long after we all had returned from PNG, after Dick had been serving many years at Holy Cross, our congregation in Portland, OR, called him to be our principal. Despite the fact that we were offering him a salary twice what Holy Cross could, he turned us down saying “these students need me”. At the time he was selling appliances at Sears in his evening hours to make ends meet. Dick was a true servant of our Lord. We already miss him greatly!
Dick was a friend, colleague, co-worker in the Lord’s Vineyard with me. He has now reached the goal of the Christian life and that is life eternal with the Savior. In the Faith, it can be said, “He who dies thus, dies well.” See you later, brother. Pr. Jim Hoppes
Dear Adler family. I remember you fondly. I see the Bess family is a crew now. God is good. Dick was a faithful servant in His kingdom. Have a joyful celebration of his home-going, albeit sad that he is not here in body. God bless all of you.
Blessings to the family of Richard Adler.
Sorry for your loss. Richard was a calm and pleasant friend at the Kassel family reunions. Cousin Cecil
My family and I Benjamin have send a message of condolence to the family of mzee whom I took dearly as my parent I would like to encourage your hearts and souls to remain strong and strong even a time of mourning like this you shall still be part of my family whoever you all Shall be may God the almighty guide you protect the family of mzee whom
I always call papa,
forever and may God rest his soul in eternal life amen.
Mzee was a kind and God given good heart papa he could always listen to me when I talk and tell for me nice stories I know we shall meet with him in heaven because he was a true servant of God and saved pole I mean sorry even to his grand daughters sons
I hope Krista you will come to Nairobi sothat I give you something us family for the death of our loved one papa you may arrange after the burial but for now we are together with you in mourning America it’s very far I wish it was near I would come.
He was a thief and embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars from Holy Cross Lutheran School when he was there. I hope he asked God for forgiveness for what he did and the trauma he put the church treasurer through at the time.
I have nothing but positive things to say about my friend Dick Adler. I was a teacher assistant for two years at Holy Cross Lutheran School in St. Louis. He was my mentor, a great resource, and worked excellently in education with dealing directly with the children and on an administrative level. I believe that he was an honest man.
As the principal of Holy Cross, Dick Adler would write up articles about the school, the community, and the at risk children that attended our school. He was able to make grants available to support extra staff members for the support of the regular teachers in the school. The salaries for the teachers and extra staff members amounts to a lot of money. Being a principal is not an easy job. I believe that Dick put his heart and soul into being principal.
He cared about each and every one of us connected with the school. He cared for the children, the parents, the staff, and the volunteers. When I left Holy Cross, I needed help driving out to my next position, Life Lutheran School in Eugene, OR, because I am not a good long distance driver. He drove me all the way out there! I paid for his flight back to St. Louis.
We remained friends ever since then. We once in a while would call one another, but we always corresponded with one another with an annual Christmas card & letter to keep one another informed with our lives and families. Dick had a gift for writing that excelled beyond what most people could do. That was especially helpful in his role as a principal.
Most importantly though, Dick’s faith in Jesus Christ shined forth in his life and is impacted to this day on the people he impacted: his family, his friends, his coworkers, and his community. Dick was a blessing in my life and so many other people’s lives. I was so glad that God saw to it that we became lifelong friends!