Richard Melvyn Yeast January 18, 1936 - June 16, 2021

Richard Melvyn Yeast

died at the age of 85 on June 16th, 2021 at the Missouri Veterans Home in St. Louis , MO.  Richard’s burial service will be held June 30th 2021 at 11:00 am at Camp Butler National Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois.

Richard was born on January 18, 1936 in Bloomington, Illinois.  Richard was the son of

Leonard and Grace Yeast. He had one sister, Linda Kaye Yeast. Richard attended McLean High School, in McLean, Illinois.  Richard was on the basketball team with a high score of 28 points.  He also played on the baseball team at McLean High.

Richard was married to Marilyn Van Hoosier for over 30 years. Richard became a father to Debra Schroeder, Leslie Bennett when he married Marilyn. Richard and Marilyn had 3 sons together, Richard, Gregory and Jeffrey Yeast.  Later in life Richard and Celeste had a daughter Ashley Hemmelman.  Richard continued to be active through his adult years attending the YMCA regularly.  He played and coached softball well into his 60’s.  He coached his son in baseball. One summer he coached his son’s team to a league three championship in Bloomington/Normal at Stevenson Park!  To this day, we hear from individuals who Richard coached about how great he was as a coach.

Richard enlisted in the US Navy to serve in the Vietnam War.  He attended the Great Lakes

Naval Academy in Illinois.  Richard served in the US Navy for 12 years and was honorably discharged at the rank of Petty Officer First Class (E6). He served on the USS Coral Sea, USS Bushnell and the USS Enterprise.  Throughout Richard’s Naval career he and his family were stationed in Key West, Florida, Colorado Springs, CO, Fremont and Alameda, CA, Bremerton, WA.

Following the Navy, Richard spent several years in Springfield, McLean and Bloomington, Illinois prior to moving to Winona, MN.  He moved to St. Louis, MO for the remaining years of  his life. Richard was a die-hard St. Louis Cardinal fan.  He enjoyed listening to Jack Buck and other Cardinal announcers call games play-by-play on the radio and getting to watch some of the greatest baseball players ever.  Richard had a real love for the intricacy of the game of baseball.   He often spoke of growing up in the best of times with awesome cars, music and classic movies!   One of his favorite movies was Casablanca!!!!