Richard Miller Bivens, 81, passed away peacefully in his sleep on March 30, 2024. He was born on August 19, 1942, as the only child to Byron Frank Bivens and Marjorie Nell Miller Bivens.

Richard graduated from Southwestern High School in Piasa, IL, then continued his studies and got his Masters in Education from SIUE. After teaching biology for 35 years, he retired from Alton School District. He then taught 6 years in Missouri schools, and later substituted at several schools in the south St. Louis County area.

He loved sports, including football, basketball and baseball. And his greatest love of all was cars and auto racing. He worked as a pit official for 33 Indy 500’s and was a member of the Oldtimers Club.

He is survived by his true love, his wife Nancy, his 2 daughters Heather Bivens of Marysville, WA and Heidi (George) Plunkett of Fieldon, IL; grandson Dylan Scott of Jerseyville, IL; his stepdaughter Susan (Robert) Efken, of Imperial, MO and their children Caleb, Lucas, Jackson and Addison.

Richard was preceded in death by his father Byron, his Mother Marjorie and Stepmother Marie.

He suffered with Parkinson’s disease for many years, and he was motivated by helping Parkinson’s Disease research at Washington University School of Medicine, and had his brain donated for that cause. Per his wishes, there will be no formal memorial ceremony or celebration of life and he asked for those who wanted to pay their respects or honor his memory make donations to American Parkinson’s Disease Assoc, Missouri Chapter.