Richard Harland Jordan

Richard Harland Jordan was larger-than-life in every possible way: his height, his smile, his laugh, his story, and most of all, his huge heart. Everyone that knew him loved him. Richard was born in McAlester Oklahoma on January 5, 1947. The second oldest of four siblings, he loved history and science and was a great student. Always a hard-worker and a provider, Richard started at 5 years old hoisting cinder blocks and at 11 he sold moonshine and became a billiards pool shark to help his family. After moving to Newport, CA at the age of 16, Richard became a self-taught mechanic, eventually landing him an opportunity to service patrol vehicles for the California Highway Patrol. At 25 he went to Kenai, Alaska to work as an engineer. He managed a fleet of 120 commercial salmon boats in the summers, and in the winters, he was an engineer on commercial king crab boats. He worked in sixty-foot seas in the most extreme conditions. It was there that he met his first wife, Pauline, and had two children, Ashley and Matt. They settled in San Diego, CA, where Richard ran a Snap-On Tools franchise up and down the Pacific Coast Highway achieving Top Salesman in the State. He provided a quintessential childhood for his kids: tons of love and support, weekends spent on the Colorado River water skiing and wakeboarding, and Christmases that rivaled National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Richard was blessed to have good taste in women. In 2004, he found his perfect match in Christi Sunseri. Their marriage blended their families seamlessly, with Christi and her two children becoming a big part of his life, and Christi wonderfully stepping into the role of a caring bonus mom to Ashley and Matt. Richard spent the rest of his years in Visalia, CA. He was a one-of-a-kind Grandpa "Pops" to his grandkids, Gia, Seth, Brody and Alex. His favorite place was either in his Oasis of a backyard with a Black Velvet and Coke in hand surrounded by cherished family and friends, or racing around in his yellow Tahiti speedboat, blasting the rooster tail. Richard was scared of heights but loved aviation and flying. He was a gentle giant with a boisterous laugh and a mischievous grin. He was a fun-loving, crazy jokester that was as stubborn as he was loyal. He sat right up against the fireplace with his favorite dog Georgie, he played Solitaire, he loved steak, palm trees and the History Channel. His family never believed that they could miss his "bad dad jokes" and "old-fart phrases" so terribly. Richard could fix anything, and his family is left wishing he could somehow fix the huge void he's left behind. Richard passed on November 5, 2023, at the age of 76. He is survived by his sister Lana, his wife Christi and his children Ashley, Matt, Jessica and her husband Cole, Joey and his wife Jennifer, grandchildren Gia, Seth, Brody and Alex. Richard was deeply loved and will be missed more than he could ever know. A "Celebration of Life" is scheduled for Saturday November 25th at 12:00pm at Elks Lodge in Visalia, CA. Services have been entrusted to Salser & Dillard Funeral Chapel. Memorial Tributes and condolences may be offered by logging onto www.salseranddillard.com.

Richard Harland Jordan

January 5, 1947 - November 5, 2023