Walter Richardson Spofford Jr.

Walter Richardson (“Rick”) Spofford, Jr. of Bedford, passed away on December 20, 2018 at 79 years old.  Rick was raised in Nashville, Tennessee and Fayetteville, New York, before settling permanently in Bedford, Massachusetts in 1968.

Rick leaves behind his wife of nearly 57 years, Kathleen (“Kaye”) Edwards Spofford, as well as three sons and daughters-in-law:  Geoffrey and Juliana of Westborough, Michael and Janice of Westborough, and Andrew and Joanne of Topsfield. Eight adoring grandchildren will miss their Grampa:  Sabina, Hanna, Helena, Matthew, Emily, Kerry, Emma, and Daniel.  Rick predeceases his four siblings:  Margery Spofford of Sebastopol, California; Kathleen Woodruff of Waitsfield, Vermont; Roger Spofford of Eagle Lake, Florida; and Elizabeth Ward of Maplewood, Minnesota.

Rick graduated from The Manlius School in Manlius, New York, before attending and graduating from Syracuse University, Class of 1961.  Rick and Kaye married in 1962, starting a family in Fayetteville before moving to Bedford in 1968 to pursue Rick’s career in electrical engineering. Rick was an analog electrical engineer.  Early in his career Rick held jobs with GE, Mallory and Analog Devices.  Rick spent a majority of his career as a consultant running a business under the name of Micro Design, Inc.

Having been raised by adventuresome parents – Mary (McClintock) Spofford of Syracuse, New York and Dr. Walter R. Spofford of Portal, Arizona – Rick exhibited a zest for life, whether sailing off the coast of Maine, biking 260 miles to the Adirondacks in his mid-forties, playing tennis well into his seventies, fly fishing in Montana, singing tenor with the Masterworks Chorale, First Parish Church choir and the Boston Holiday Pops on Tour and in Symphony Hall, cheering on BHS soccer teams, or bird watching with Kaye in the nearby Great Woods National Wildlife Refuge.

Rick and Kaye enjoyed bike rides in Bedford, on the Minuteman Bike Trail, on Cape Cod, along Cape Ann and in the Netherlands.  They cross-country skied in Estabrook Woods in Concord and they travelled and hiked in the Chiricahua Mountains of Arizona.

Rick loved summer vacations at the family camp in the Adirondacks where he hiked, canoed, fished, boated and explored with Kaye, his sons and their spouses, and his beloved grandchildren.

Rick generously shared his enthusiasm with others, playing an active role in the Bedford community:  coaching his sons’ Little League Baseball teams and volunteering for AFS (the American Foreign Student Exchange), the Parent Teacher Association, the Historical District Commission and Friends of the Library.

A Celebration of Rick’s Life will be held on Saturday, January 12, 2019 at 3:00 p.m. at First Parish in Bedford, 75 The Great Road, Bedford, Massachusetts.  Memorial contributions may be made to Masterworks Chorale (PO Box 382231, Cambridge, MA 02238) or First Parish in Bedford (75 Great Rd., Bedford, MA 01730).