Richard "Dick" Joseph Coolen

Richard “Dick or Dickie Joe” Coolen was born April 15, 1940 to Harvey and Virginia Coolen in Seattle, WA.

He was their first son after 3 daughters (Jini, Theresa, and Kitty) and two more sons (Mike and Pat) born into the Coolen family. He attended Immaculate Conception and graduated from O’Dea High School in Seattle.

After serving in the Army, he returned home and married Linda Pope-Wear on February 24, 1962. Soon, they welcomed their first daughter, Erin, in January of 1963 followed by a second daughter, Kris, in December of 1964.

In 1975, Dick and Linda moved to Port Orchard to build the family home on 10 acres, where he provided for his family as a musician and bricklayer.

He described himself as a “jack of all trades, master of none”. He was an accomplished musician as well as a brick mason for most of his life. He has a few paintings he painted in his earlier years that are still cherished by his family.

He retired from brick laying and found great fulfillment in serving his community at St. Gabriel’s. He was involved in several ministries within St. Gabriel such as Retsil, the Filipino American group, and the Liturgical Ministry. He has several bands in which he was the leader or participant in over the course of his career, with the last being a member of the ‘Hometown Band’.

Dick was a beloved member and supporter of the Filipino Americans (Fil-Am) group at St. Gabriel’s Church. He was surrounded by his Fil-Am team and friends in which he claimed to be a Filipino already as he loved Filipino dishes I.E adobo, fish sinigang (sour soup). He enjoyed wearing Barong Tagalog at the church events. His favorite song was “Dahil sa Iyo” (Because of You) and learned a few Tagalog words such as “Salamat” (Thanks) and “Mahal Kita” (I Love You).

Dick was known as Papa to all 13 of his grandchildren: Kyla, Adam, Austin, Micah, Shawn, Josiah, Daytin, Sierra, Jesse, Madelyn, Jessica, Michael and McKenna as well as his great-grandchildren: Lynora, Nevina, Aaron and Dominic.

We all know his favorite saying when you asked him how he was doing was:
Su-per-ca-li-fra-gil-is-tic-ex-pi-a-li-do-cious – meaning: adjective
● 1. Extraordinarily good; wonderful:

Dick lived an extraordinarily good and wonderful life and passed that on to all that knew him.

Richard/Dick/Dad/Daddy-O/Papa left this earthly world July 21, 2024 and is now supercalifragilisticexpialidocious in heaven with his wife, Linda, parents, siblings, and Tom Petty which is exactly where an extraordinarily good and wonderful person (that he was) should be!

The following link is a podcast that Dick was involved with approximately a year ago. They discuss his upbringing and musical career:
https://soundcloud.com/ekgroup/power-of-place-episode-39-a-seattle-songbook-dick-coolen