Final Salute

Richard Alan Maneval, of Sun Valley and formerly Salt Lake City, Utah, passed away peacefully at home on July 13, 2023, gazing north to the Sawtooth Mountains with his wife Jane Conard at his side, after battling an aggressive form of esophageal cancer.

Rick was where he wanted to be in his favorite place, having first come to the Wood River Valley with his parents on family trips. Born in Santa Monica, California, on Sept.11, 1945, he was the much-loved only child of Grace Webster Maneval and Richard W. Maneval, who shortly after his birth moved to Bremerton, Washington. Rick went everywhere his parents went: camping, hiking, and skiing. He was long-time Boy Scout, sang in his church choir and a boys’ quartet, and loved preparing salmon cookouts for community events.

From an early age, Rick knew he wanted to be an engineer. His parents encouraged him by taking him on summer vacations to dam sites throughout the West. He graduated in 1963 from West High School in Bremerton and enrolled in Washington State University. He transferred after one year to the University of Washington where he enjoyed his engineering studies, Kappa Sigma social activities, and a gratifying summer 1965 project doing one of the earliest surveys of the future Washington North Cascade Highway. He earned his BSCE from the University of Washington in 1967.

Rick served in the U.S. Navy from 1967-1970 and was commissioned as an officer of the Navy Construction Battalion (the “Seabees”). He led a unit for a year in Vietnam to build port facilities just south of the DMZ. Following his Vietnam duty, Rick was the Officer in Charge of the local naval facilities district in New York City. He and other returnees residing in the Bachelor Officers Quarters at the Brooklyn Navy Yard packed more mischief and good times (including 55 days of Vermont skiing in a rented lodge) into their year together that they are still laughing themselves silly whenever they meet 50 years later.

In 1970, Rick packed up his red VW beetle and drove cross-country to San Francisco in three days. Fate guided him to the Bechtel headquarters where he found his niche in cost engineering and management for major mining construction projects around the world. Rick was at the forefront of the transition from adding machines and slide rules to sophisticated estimating software run on powerful computers, and he loved it.

By 1977, Rick had moved on to earn his MBA from the University of Washington. Although Rick was proud to list the numerous projects he had worked on in Australia, Alaska, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Canada, Ecuador, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, and other locations, the project that changed Rick’s life profoundly, and in ways he never anticipated, was his involvement with the modernization of the Kennecott Mine from 1982 – 1995.

It all started on a hot August evening in 1982, at a Salt Lake Symphony concert at Snowbird. Rick met Jane Reister Conard, a lawyer who had also just relocated to Salt Lake City. The crux of Rick’s new challenge revealed itself when he realized Jane had a three-year-old daughter named Tacy and a large cat named Aldonza who formed a non-negotiable package deal. Tacy quickly established a loving, lifelong relationship with Rick. In contrast, Aldonza sensed that Rick was allergic to cats and made it her life’s purpose to sit on or near every surface Rick might encounter. It is a testament to Rick’s devotion and determination that he overcame his allergy in the interests of being a family.

Months later, Tacy popped the question, “When can I be a flower girl?” Rick laughed and replied, “Ask your mother!” Tacy’s wish came true on April 8, 1985, when Rick and Jane were married in a small ceremony in the Sun Valley Lodge by then Sun Valley Mayor Ruth Lieder.

Rick settled well into domesticity with Salt Lake City as the home base to many family adventures, including teaching Tacy life lessons, such as how to drive a stick-shift VW, make a budget, and maintain a positive attitude every day. When Tacy went off to college, a new phase began for Rick and Jane of travel and Spanish-language study. They journeyed to 15 Spanish-speaking countries as well as China, India, and Italy. Rick’s life advice was to go far and wide and return to what suits you, so in 2011 Sun Valley became a permanent home.

New Jersey also made the list of Rick’s favorite destinations because he loved to visit his grandsons and continue the life-lessons he taught their mom. He also loved welcoming them to Idaho to ski and hike, and make loud noises wherever they went.

Rick faced his cancer diagnosis last December with his trademark stoicism and humor. He listened to the music of Chicago during radiation treatments, the same music that propelled the family on road trips to Sun Valley. He was buoyed by the care of family, friends, and expert medical teams in Utah and Idaho.

Rick is predeceased by his parents. He is survived by his wife, Jane Conard; his stepdaughter, Tacy Quinn and her husband, Brian; and his grandsons, Charlie and Teddy Quinn.

A celebration of life will be held Sunday, Aug. 13, 1 p.m., at Sawtooth Botanical Garden with a benediction at 2:30 p.m. In remembrance of Rick’s life, and in support of places dear to him, charitable donations can be made to The Community Library in Ketchum or Sawtooth Botanical Gardens.