Richard Tolonie, 74, of Pullman passed away unexpectedly at his home on Saturday, August 13, 2022.

Rick was Born January 8, 1948, to Joseph Tolonie and Jean Shebeck in  Sharon, PA.

Before coming to Pullman, Rick lived in many places like, Chico, California, Hawaii, San Francisco, and Seattle, to name a few. Some of these were during his service in the U.S. Navy. In the late 70's, he opened a gas station in Woodinville, WA, and after a couple years, moved to Lynnwood, where he was employed at a large body shop with Alley Chevrolet. While living there, he visited Pullman a couple times and really liked not having to fight traffic and chaos of the city - so, in 1985, he made the move to Pullman, where he settled down and began a family with Char Tolonie.

Rick's first job was working as a service writer at both Dick Giovi Ford and Wally Orvik in Moscow. He then took on "wrenching" after not doing it for several years and served as a mechanic for Evergreen Tire for 12 years, and a year at Pullman Auto Service. He then made the move to open his own business called Rick's Auto Repair. Two years later, and after many years of abuse to his knees as a mechanic, he sold his shop and worked at Safeway where he eventually retired.

During Rick's career, he specialized in, and had a knack for, diagnosing import and domestic auto repairs without using the computers. He also kept up on numerous classes throughout his career and was certified in so many auto types and systems, that his certificates had to be put in a binder after he ran out of room on the wall.

If you knew Rick, you definitely witnessed his wicked-quick sense of humor and brutally honest and humorous outlook on any subject that came his way. Not to mention, he was smart as a whip and knew a lot about history and was extremely fast at answering math questions in his head while others were just starting to write it down.

Even though Rick kept to his home in recent years, his passion was always family, his dogs, followed by a good sci-fi or old western movie and a quiet life at home.

Rick is survived by his daughter and son-in-law, Amber and Jason Butcherite, his daughter Stefanie Jezek, and grandchildren, Bailey Line, Chloe Jezek, Jillian and Jaden Butcherite. His sister, Diane Antus, two nieces, Kathy and Terry, and a half sister, Theresa Tolonie. He is also survived by his sweet dog, Max, and a good neighbor and friend, Bob – they looked after each other like brothers and shared a lot of memories together.  Rick is preceded in death by his Mother Jean Shebeck and Father Joseph Tolonie, and his grandparents, Ernestine and Joseph Tolonie.

Following Rick's request, there will not be a memorial service.   Arrangements were entrusted to Corbeill Funeral Home, Pullman, WA.

If anyone would like to make a donation to the Whitman County Humane Society in Rick's honor, please send to the following address: 1340 SE Old Moscow Road, PO Box 453 Pullman, WA 99163. Please add a note that it is in memory of Rick Tolonie.