Richard Donald McBride

(Hebrews 13:16)

And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

Richard (Dick) McBride of Long Beach, CA passed away on November 11, 2025 at the age of 90, having lived a rich full life in service to others. God is indeed pleased and has welcomed him home.

Richard was born to Leo and Veneita and lived most of his life in Long Beach. Along with his older brother James and older sister Donna, Dick was raised in the Catholic Church. He attended St Matthew's Elementary School and then St Anthony HS where he competed in basketball at both. While attending those schools Dick coached his own 7th and 8th grade basketball team, and later the girls team at St Anthony, beginning a life’s journey of coaching and mentoring.

Dick had a deep commitment to his faith, and one almost as strong for golf. He first walked a fairway with his father at the age of 7 at Recreation Golf Course in Long Beach. He recalled later that there weren't many on the course that day in 1942 because of WWII. Saint Anthony HS didn't have a golf team, so he was allowed to join Wilson's High School team. He went on to play two years of basketball at Loyola University of Los Angeles and competed all 4 years on the school's golf team.

After graduating from Loyola in 1957 Dick was drafted into the Army, spending the next two years in the service, including 13 months in Korea working as a Chaplain's Assistant, doing the Lord's work in the orphanages and hospitals. While overseas Dick corresponded by letters and voice recorded tape with a curly haired redhead he met two years prior. Barbara Bernard was three years younger and attending Mount St. Mary's College, and soon after Dick's commitment in the military ended, his 53-year commitment to Barbara began. The two wed in 1960 and soon after moved to Illinois where Dick began dental school at Loyola University of Chicago, while Barbara began her career as a teacher. In February of 1964 their first of five children, Timothy, was born. Graduating dental school that spring, the three returned to Long Beach where Dick began working with his father Leo and older brother James at the dental office Leo built at 3960 Atlantic Ave in Long Beach. For the next 4+ decades in that one location Dick would care for thousands of patients from the community, returning home each evening to share stories of what friends he attended to that day.

Dick and Barbara's marriage the following 53 years focused on sharing their love and passion for ministry with others. In 1970 they started a "Shepherding Home Program", which included opening their safe and warm home to pregnant women in need of a loving family environment. By this time children Patrick (1965), Mary Jo ('68), and Michael ('69) had joined what had now become a full and spirited house. Over the course of the next two-plus decades upwards of 60 women in need of a caring home filled with Christian values came to live with Dick and his family. The soon-to-be mothers became part of the family as they stayed through the birth of their child. Some of the children would be adopted, others would remain with the mother, and at times the two would continue to live with Dick and his family for a year or longer.

In 1972 Dick and Barbara went on a Marriage Encounter Weekend and immediately recognized the impact it had on their marriage. Soon after they took a Team Training Weekend so they could share their passion for the Encounter with others.

Four years later Dick and Barbara were asked to become the Executive Team overseeing Marriage Encounter in the United States. Following that run, in 1980, they became the Executive Team of Worldwide Marriage Encounter, during which they traveled to more than 2 dozen countries, as far away as South Africa, helping to open and grow Marriage Encounter around the world. Marriage Encounter had become a Movement, and Dick and Barbara helped ignite its fire.

In 1980 Dick and Barbara were appointed by Pope John Paul II to be one of 16 married couples worldwide as Auditors to the World Synod of Bishops, held that fall in Rome for one month. It was the first time in the history of the church that lay people were invited to be part of a Papal Synod. They were asked to give a talk to the Holy Father and the 215 Bishops in attendance about the role of marriage and family in the church in the United States. Dick and Barbara spent days preparing their talk. With the Holy Father sitting in the front row, surrounded by the hundreds of clergy leaders from around the world, including (now Saint) Mother Teresa, they delivered a passionate speech, one they later credited the Holy Spirit with helping them write.

Returning home Dick loved sharing stories of the conversations he and Barbara had with Pope John Paul II, and Mother Teresa, who was seated directly in front of them during the month-long synod. One year later Pope John Paul II, wishing to build on the momentum of what was learned during the synod, established The Pontifical Council for Marriage and Family, and appointed Dick and Barbara to the Council for a 5-year term.

While all of that was going on, back home in Long Beach, on December 29, 1980 Dick and Barbara and their 4 children adopted into their family a newborn baby girl they named Kathleen Melia. Katie immediately became the center focus of the family, a gift from God they couldn’t have imagined, but were thrilled to receive.

Dick found time to volunteer as a coach for his son's basketball teams at St Anthony HS in 1982 and '83. He and Barbara also taught Marriage and Family classes at Saint Anthony HS as well as at St John's Seminary in Camarillo for two years in the mid 80's. It was a long drive, but they loved spending time with the next generation of priests. In 1986 Archbishop Roger Mahony asked Dick and Barbara to lead the Task Force for Pope John Paul II motorcade through the streets of Los Angeles on his way to say mass on September 15, 1987 at the L.A. Coliseum.

For his tireless work and devotion to his alma maters, Dick was inducted into St Anthony HS Hall of Fame in 1991, and in 2009 was honored by Loyola Marymount University as a Distinguished Alumni.

After 42 years practicing dentistry Dick retired in 2006. He began attending daily mass at St. Bartholomew, and after mass delivering food and flowers to nursing facilities and homeless shelters and kitchens throughout Long Beach for Food Finders. In the afternoons for close to 20 years Dick was a volunteer coach for both the boys and girls golf teams at Wilson HS - winning multiple CIF Championships!

Richard (Dick “Doc”) McBride is survived by his 5 children, Timothy (Chantal), Patrick (Malys), Mary Jo (Steve Rockenbach), Michael, and Katie (Jose Diaz); 13 grandchildren, Andrew (Emily), Alexandra, and Ian (Emma) McBride; Shyenn (Riley) Drumheller; Ryan, Shane, Colin, and Emily Rockenbach; Casanova, Lucky, Ivey, Natalia, and Ciela Diaz; great granddaughter Eloise McBride; sister Donna Sorensen, brother-in-law Tom Bernard, and many nieces and nephews.

Dick was a beloved Husband, Father, Brother, Godfather, Coach, golf and cribbage buddy. He will be missed tremendously and remembered dearly.

Services will be held at St Bartholomew Catholic Church in Long Beach on Saturday December 6th. Rosary at 10:15am, Funeral at 11am. Reception immediately following (details TBD)

In lieu of flowers the family encourages donations be sent in Dick’s name to Food Finders ( https://givebutter.com/foodfinderus ), or St. Anthony High School, Long Beach www.longbeachsaints.org/give .

Luyben Dilday Mortuary (562) 425-6401