Mechanical engineer Stan Rice engaged his analytical brain with learning challenges.

Mr. Rice, who held the patent for a HEPA filtration system, taught himself to speak two languages, to play the piano and, in his 30s, tennis.

Family photo (ENLARGE)

Self-taught musician Stan Rice plays his harmonica while his son, Ron Rice of Dunwoody, accompanies him on the piano. When his children were young, Stan Rice liked to gather them outside at night and serenade them with his harmonica under the stars. He also taught himself to play the piano.

At 82, he was on the courts four to six hours a day, four days a week at DeKalb County's Blackburn Tennis Center. "Young men would try to get him to play tennis with them, he was so good. He gave them a good game," said his daughter Karen Cooksey of Alpharetta.

"He was pretty much self-taught, being so analytical," she said. "He liked figuring things out."

The physics of tennis intrigued him as did sentence structure and grammar in languages. He taught himself French first for the beauty of the language and its romantic tone, she said. He later taught himself Spanish.

"He taught himself on an old-fashioned tape recorder so he could stop and start the tape," Mrs. Cooksey said. One day a week, he assisted in teaching English. He liked to point out words that sound alike in different languages.

Mr. Rice's analytical mind once helped saved a man's life. Buried in a cave-in, the man's hand was all that could be seen. People rushed in with shovels to dig him out, and Mr. Rice stopped them for fear they would injure the man. From the position of the man's hand, Mr. Rice calculated where his nose would be, uncovered it, then his eyes, saving his life, his daughter said.

The graveside service for Stanley Rice, 83, of Dunwoody, who died of Merkel cell carcinoma Thursday at St. Joseph's Hospital, is 11 a.m. Monday at Georgia National Cemetery. The body was cremated. Cremation Society of the South is in charge of arrangements.

Mr. Rice, a World War II Marine Corps veteran, was running telephone wire to the front during fierce fighting on Iwo Jima when he saw comrades raise the United States flag — twice, originally and again for a photographer, his daughter said. After the war, it was love at first sight when he met his wife of 57 years, Sylvia Rice, at a dance.

He delighted in gathering friends at his house where they praised his mashed potatoes. His secret was melting butter in the whipping cream before adding it to the potatoes, his daughter said. He entertained playing the piano and singing Cole Porter tunes.

He wrote a book on an easier way to play chords but it never was published, she said. Other times, he would gather his children outside at night and serenade them on his harmonica under the stars.

He entertained his grandchildren by playing "Good Ship Lollipop" while they danced. He fascinated them by folding a piece of cardboard, cutting it into a centimeter, then unfolding it to demonstrate a cubic centimeter in three dimension.

About 10 years ago, he started reading the World Book encyclopedia from A to Z. "You always knew what letter he was on," Mrs. Cooksey said. He would pepper his family with "Did you know ...?" questions that gave away his current letter.

He was quick to help a neighbor repair a lawn mower or replace a burst pipe without even being asked, said Saul Sloman of Dunwoody.

Mr. Rice was steadfast in supporting his family, especially when one son was diagnosed schizophrenic at 14 and another had a stroke at 46. "He stood by every person in our family. Whatever tragedy we would go through, he would be by our side.

"Even when I put diesel in the Toyota Corolla and he had to drain it all out, he never even yelled at me," Mrs. Cooksey said. "When my sister got lost in Tennessee and called him upset, he told her to stay right there. He drove up to her, and she followed him home.

"He was just so sweet."

Survivors other than his wife and daughter include two sons, Robert Rice of Chamblee and Ronald Rice of Dunwoody; another daughter, Laura Stalnaker of Hiram; and four grandchildren.