Richard William Rhyins

A Vivacious Personality And Illustrious Scientist

Richard Rhyins, 84, longtime resident of Ridgefield, who kept a keen eye on town spending activities as a member of the Ridgefield Board of Finance from 1968 to 1975, died of cancer, December 14, at Danbury Hospital. He was born January 6, 1926, to Sarah and Stephen Rhyins in Port Chester, N.Y. His wife, Mari Ethelyn “Lynn” Dirkes Rhyins, predeceased him.

He is survived by his eight children, including Richard J. Rhyins of Newtown; 11 grandchildren; and a sister.

 He served in the Army through World War II in the Signal Corps as a radioman and technical sergeant in the Aleutian Islands, Alaska. Using the GI bill, he attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., where graduated with a degree in physics. He continued his education at Notre Dame University, where he was also an associate professor of physics, and furthered his education at MIT in Cambridge, Mass. Mr Rhyins had a long and illustrious career a physicist and optical engineer, and contributed to many engineering and military programs and was the holder of several patents.

He moved to Ridgefield in 1958 and took a job with Barnes Engineering, where he worked until 1965, when he took a job as a senior staff scientist with the Perkin-Elmer Corp of Norwalk, then in 1970 with Laser Optics in Danbury, designing custom laser components. In 1971 he ventured on his own as an independent optical physicist and consultant developing many innovative products, including the Facsimile machine with Pitney-Bowes, Solar Telescope with Perkin-Elmer Corp, laser surveying equipment with Texas Instruments, US Military fighter pilot’s helmet-mounted display, and the dental filling cure using ultraviolet light, to name just a few of his many accomplishments. He also held a chief scientist position at Space Sciences in Westchester, N.Y., from 1990 to 1998 when he retired.

He was an avid skier, learning the sport in the Army, and took on such slopes as Mount Washington’s Tuckerman’s Ravine and Mount Greylock’s Thunderbolt trail, and took the term “extreme skiing” to the extreme. He was known to hit the slopes of Stowe or Killington, Vt., at age 80. He enjoyed the outdoors and frequently hiked the Connecticut trails. Ridgefielders may recall him cycling down Main Street or taking a swim at Great Pond.

 A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Saturday, December 18, at 10:15 am, in St Mary Church, Ridgefield, with the Reverend Russell Augustine, parochial vicar officiating. Burial will take place in St Mary Cemetery at the direction of the family. The family will receive friends in the Kane Funeral Home, 25 Catoonah Street, Ridgefield, Friday, December 17, from 5 to 8 pm.

The Newtown Bee        December 17, 2010