Richard John Shovelin

MSSGT (Retired) Richard John Shovelin entered into Eternal rest on January 26, 2020. Richard was born on August 16, 1940 in Montreal, Canada.  He was adopted at the age of 5 by John Lawrence Shovelin and Rose Marie Autotte Shovelin.  In 1955, they moved to the United States.  His first language being French, it took some work to learn English but Richard never backed down from a challenge. Together they lived in California and Texas moving many times as Rose spent time fixing houses and then flipping them before that was even popular. Richard joined the Marine Corps in December 1959.  He was the epitome of “Once a Marine, always a Marine.”  Richard’s service took him to Vietnam, embassy duty in Morocco, the Philippines, Okinawa, Japan, and many bases all over the United States.  His philosophy was “if the Corps wanted me to have a wife, they’d issue me one.”  Fortunately at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, Richard met “the one”, Linda Ann Shaw.  They were married on May 12, 1974 in Albuquerque.  Soon after they were transferred to Honolulu, Hawaii where they welcomed daughter Shawna Michelle.  Richard’s next assignment was 29 Palms, California where their son Jeffrey William was born. Richard retired from the Marine Corps as a Master Sergeant in November 1980.  The family returned to New Mexico to live closer to Linda’s family in Mountainair.  Richard was a member of the volunteer fire department as a fire fighter and EMT, town government, and most recently the Soil and Water Conservation board.  Family vacations as his kids grew up consisted of attending the Volunteer Firefighters Conventions around the state.  Some of those trips took the long way around like the one from the Grand Canyon to Farmington, NM but they were always a good time. Richard was also an avid fisherman.  He loved going out on his Pontoon looking for walleye. His fish tales were legendary and regardless of what he believed, it was not Cade's fault they got hung up. Richard is survived by his wife Linda of the home, his daughter: Shawna (Cade) Skinner of Portales, NM and his sons: Jeff Shovelin (Ryann) of Mountainair and Dwaine Salvino.  His four grandchildren: Katelynn Jo, Collin Derek, and Kinsley McCay Skinner and a granddaughter due in May.  His brother-in-law and sister-in-law Wayne and Marilyn Coffey of Albuquerque and nephews Douglas and Kyle (Eileen) Coffey and their son Coleton all of Albuquerque.  He is also survived by his extended Shaw and Nicholas families. Richard was preceded in death by his mother Rose, father John, and his in-laws JW and Ruby Shaw. Goodbye Marine, Semper Fi. A Funeral Service is scheduled for Friday, January 31, 2020 at the Harris Hanlon Mortuary in Mountainair, New Mexico. The Viewing will be at 10:00 A.M. with the service to follow at 11:00 A.M. Pallbearers will be Jeff Shovelin, Cade Skinner, Dwaine Salvino, Shane Gustin, Kenneth Shaw and Larry Zamora. Honorary Pallbearers will be Clifford Chisum, Gerard Izard and all his fellow Firefighters and EMT’s that served with Richard.