Richard Warren Partridge, Jr., born in 1929 and long-time resident of Hingham, Massachusetts passed on quietly on March 30, 2011 in Princeton, New Jersey, where he had resided for the last few years. Affectionately known as “Kye” by his family and friends, Richard was an accomplished sailor, having twice won the U.S. National 210 championship and placing in the top three positions on several other occasions over a 60 odd year sailing career. He was a lifelong member of the Hingham Yacht Club. He was a skilled craftsman and loved repairing and rebuilding small boats for his children and later for his grandchildren. Kye was also an avid skier in his younger years and would enthusiastically embrace golf in retirement. He also had a softer side planting and cultivating exquisite flower and vegetable gardens throughout his life.
Kye attended Derby Academy in Hingham and later matriculated from Vermont Academy where skiing was his passion. He attended Middlebury College and later graduated from Nichols College. He then entered the U.S. Air Force serving 4 years as a Staff Sergeant during the Korean Conflict in the 1950’s. As a certified professional real estate appraiser, Kye later worked for over 20 years as a member of the Hingham Board of Assessors while simultaneously running his own successful appraisal business with his son until his retirement in 1995.
A devoutly religious person, Kye was a life-long member of the First Church of Christ Scientist. He was a member of the Mother Church in Boston and branch churches in Braintree, Ma. and Pawleys Island, S.C. He was an active member serving in many positions in the church, including usher, treasurer and First and Second reader. Kye married Dianne Macdonald in 1953 and raised two children, Linda Barbara, and Richard Lane. Dianne pre-deceased Kye and the children in 1991. Remarrying in 1996, Kye moved to Pawleys Island, South Carolina with his wife Alice Martin, where he earnestly took up the game of golf, playing almost daily for a number of years while seasonally “snowbirding” back to Hingham to continue summer competitive sailing at HYC.
Kye was an active and engaged community member, participating in charitable and leadership organizations where he lent his time generously to several important causes. Among these organizations were the Hingham Rotary Club and the Old Colony Masonic Lodge of Hingham.
Richard is survived by his wife, Alice Partridge of Pawleys Island, S.C., his sister Barbara Partridge of Hingham, Ma. and his children, Linda Partridge Wojtasinski and her husband Steven of Hingham and Richard “Lane” Partridge and his wife Pamela of Waban, Massachusetts. Kye is also survived by three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren: Amy P. Conley and her husband James of Quincy, Haley P. Wojtasinski of Hingham and Steven A. Wojtasinski of Hingham, Meara Mae Conley and Aisling Grace Conley of Quincy, Ma.
Family and friends may visit at the Downing Cottage Funeral Chapel, 21 Pond St., Hingham on Friday, April 8, 2011 from 6:00 and 8:00 PM with a Masonic Service by Old Colony Lodge of Hingham at 7 PM. A Memorial Service will be conducted at the Downing Chapel on Saturday, April 9th at 11 AM.
In lieu of flowers or cards, the family graciously requests, that those so inclined may instead make a charitable contribution in his name to the Lincoln Maritime Center, P.O Box 492, Hingham, MA. 02043.