Lifelong resident of Aberdeen and cherished local photographer, Richard Edwin Short, succumbed October 22, 2012, to esophageal cancer at Montesano Health and Rehabilitation Center. He was born in Aberdeen, June 20, 1937, to Murl “Dugan” Edwin and Patricia Rose (Grigsby) Short.
After graduating in 1956 from J.M. Weatherwax High School, Rich apprenticed under Dell Mulkey, a local photographer. He married Barbara Jean Alterman, his high school sweetheart, and together they purchased Dell Mulkey’s Studio and renamed the business Rich’s Portrait Studio. He pioneered color photography processing on the Harbor; and as a freelance photographer for The Daily World, Rich chronicled over 50 years of local high school football games, proms, graduations, and weddings. He also served as a Red Cross instructor teaching water safety to local canoe enthusiasts. In the years after Barbara’s passing Rich and Susan fell in love and enjoyed bicycle rides, the company of friends, and traveling. Their mutual love of animals often led them to rescue abandoned pets. Rich was an active member of the Grays Harbor Banjo Band, and could often be seen playing in the front row at the group’s jam sessions.