Richard Lee and Ann Riordan Westphal

Richard Lee Westphal and Ann Riordan Westphal

Entered Heaven Together Friday, October 24, 2025. It was a joyful sorrowful miracle to watch them leave this world, side by side, hand in hand. They never wanted to spend a day on earth apart. They lived 65 years in a loving faithful marriage and raised a beautiful family.

Richard Lee Westphal, “Dick”, was born March 4, 1935, in North Platt, Nebraska. He was the second oldest of five children, and his parents, Donald and Marjorie, moved them to Long Beach, California in the 40’s. He attended Jordan High School, excelling in varsity football and track, earning him a Football Scholarship at University of Southern California in the Fall of 1953. He was a fraternity member of Delta Sigma Phi and belonged to the USC Barber Shop Quartet. He graduated from the University of Southern California in 1966 with a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Management. After losing his athletic scholarship his senior year in 1956 due to injury, he was determined to earn his degree from his beloved university while working full time, attending night school with three children under the age of 4 years old.

Dick, fascinated in aerospace, spent 34 years at Rockwell International’s Space Division in Downey, California, becoming Director of Transportation. Throughout his dedicated years he was part of great endeavors in space with the planning and manufacturing for the Apollo and Space Shuttle Programs. Twice he received the President’s Award and in 1993 received the Chairman’s Team Award. His work family became part of his extended family.

Ann Riordan Westphal was born November 11, 1937 in San Francisco, California. Her father, James Riordan, was a medical doctor in WWII. He and his wife Helen, and their four children lived in Oregon and Washington during the war. After the war, Ann’s family settled in St. Louis, Missouri until her father finished his medical study in radiology. Ann and her family moved to Phoenix, Arizona in 1949. She attended Saint Mary’s High School and excelled in journalism, becoming Editor in Chief of the School Newspaper. Ann continued her love of journalism in 1955 at university, attending Mount Saint Mary’s in Los Angeles, graduating in 1959 with a Bachelor of Arts in English, becoming a teacher in Los Angeles. Her greatest joy and success were being a stay-at-home mom and the family historian.

Dick and Ann met on Fraternity Row on the USC campus in 1955. Ann caught Dick’s eye while she was visiting campus in the back of a car full of her Mount girlfriends, while he was at the street corner of his fraternity house. The song “Standing on the Corner, Watching All the Girls Go By”, became their meet cute song. They married on November 26, 1960 at Saint Gregory’s in Phoenix, Arizona, and settled in Downey California, where they lived for 34 years, raising their four children. After Dick’s retirement from Rockwell International in 1996, they moved to Tucson (Oro Valley), Arizona, where they enjoyed 28 years of retirement.

Their 65 years of marriage were filled with joy, love, faith, loss, family, friends, grandchildren, golf, travel, USC football games, holidays, Arizona sunrises and sunsets, 9am Sunday Mass, dancing, singing, baking and barbecues. Two years ago, they moved up to Phoenix, Ann in Memory Care and Dick in Assisted Living. Their separation was painful for both. Ann came upstairs to visit Dick two days before their deaths. She never left his side, and they lay side by side, hand in hand. Dick waited for his bride, the football Trojan warrior he was. When he passed away and they unlocked their hands and took him away, Ann took her last breath less than 30 minutes later.

Dick and Ann are survived by their children Dan (Eileen) of Cottonwood, AZ; Marie Morales of San Juan Capistrano, CA and Michael (Keri) of Phoenix, AZ; granddaughter Tess Morales; grandsons Henry and Ryan Westphal; Dick’s brother Mike (Sue) of Seal Beach, CA; Ann’s brothers Joe (Rosemary) Riordan of Peoria, AZ; Michael (Sheila) Riordan of Litchfield Park, AZ and sister Helen Wheeler of Phoenix, AZ.

They were predeceased in 2018 by their loving daughter

Suzanne Therese Clark of Culpeper, VA.

Funeral Mass will be celebrated on Thursday, January 15, 2026, at 10 o’clock in the morning, a Rosary will begin at 9 thirty, at Saint Francis Xavier Catholic Church, 4715 N Central Avenue, Phoenix, Arizona 85012.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Dementia & Alzheimer’s organizations or Youth Air & Space organizations.