Richard Orval Willingham DVM

Willingham, Richard (Rick) Orval Dr. Rick Willingham, born August 26, 1949 in Fort Worth, Texas, passed away at his home on February 8, 2008. He is survived by his wife, Terry Willingham, his three daughters, Alexis Willingham Vaughn (husband, Joe), Kate Tsai (husband, Jason), and Callie Willingham, and his granddaughter, Alyssa Tsai. He is also survived by his parents, Orval and Erna Willingham, and his sister, Judy Russell (husband, Robert, and children, Megan Caldwell, Victoria Russell, and Robert Carson Russell). He is preceded in death by his first wife and mother of his daughters, Dr. Jackie Willingham. Rick graduated from Boyd High School in 1967 and went on to receive his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine in 1975. He served as a Captain in the US Army Veterinary Corps before settling in Sulphur Springs, Texas, where he was a mixed animal practitioner at Hopkins County Veterinary Clinic for 24 years. In 2002, he married Terry Chisholm and they moved to Plainview, Texas, where he served as herd veterinarian for Dairy Fountain. Rick loved practicing veterinary medicine and had a deep love for the work and the profession. He enjoyed working with his dairy cattle, beef cattle, and horses. He was always willing to stop and help any one or any animal that he could. Rick was a loving father, husband, grandfather, brother, son, and friend and will be missed by many. Memorial services will be held at 10:00 A.M. Thursday, February 14, 2008 at Kornerstone Funeral Directors, 3605 SW 3rd, Plainview, Texas. Memorial services will be held at 2:00 pm Monday, February 18, 2008 at Murray-Orwosky Funeral Home, 419 Gilmer Street, Sulphur Springs, Texas 75482 with a visitation starting at 1:00 p.m. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials to the Richard O. Willingham Scholarship Fund at Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine, (Texas A&M Foundation, Office of the Dean, TAMU-CVM, Suite 101-VMA, College Station, Texas 77843-4461, 979-845-5051) in memory of Richard O. Willingham.