Letter to the Editor: The Richards Have Made Orcas a Better Place

 — by Lesley Liddle —

Two very dear members of our Orcas community will be leaving us. Lynn and Glenna Richards have decided it is time, and have made the difficult decision to move to an assisted living residence located in Woodinville. On the bright side they will be closer to their children and grandchildren who all live in the Seattle area; however, we will certainly grieve their absence.

The Richards bought waterfront property on Orcas in 1968 and over several years designed and then hand-built a gorgeous house milled with lumber from the Bond brothers of Olga. When Lynn retired in 1991, they were able to move permanently into their finished home.

Over the next 25 years they made it their purpose to volunteer for pretty much every charitable project that came their way and Glenna, who is a talented artist, became a charter member of the Orcas Palettes.

One of the first projects they undertook was to teach islanders to ballroom dance. Glenna and Lynn are masters of the dance and it has been wonderful to watch them dance together. In fact, my mother Mary and I went over to Shaw Island weekly one winter to learn the Tango from them. Over the years the Richards managed to go on 33 all-expense paid cruises as dance teachers. The longest cruise was 66 days and circumnavigated South America.

Once retired, Lynn volunteered on the Orcas Center board and ran the original rummage sale with Paula Capitano. Both Lynn and Glenna have been in Kiwanis and Lynn was twice president. They were board members of the Library and even headed up the booksale at the Library fair. Lynn was a volunteer bus driver for the senior center for several years, and often drove my mother to the center for lunch. One winter he also drove eight of us (all but myself seniors at the time) to Harrison Hot Springs for a delightful getaway. He spent two years on the San Juan County Park board when it was first established on Orcas and was also a volunteer reader at the school for kindergarteners.

At present both Lynn and Glenna volunteer weekly at the food bank and attend the Palettes gatherings and Kiwanis meetings.

And I’ve probably left out a lot of other projects they have undoubtedly contributed to, but this is all I was able to get from having a recent chat with Lynn. The Richards are so well-loved by their many friends and this community that we feel more than a little sad to have them move. I do not know two more loving and generous people. They remind me so much of my own well-meaning, gentle parents. It has been a great blessing for me to have been Lynn and Glenna’s neighbor, a privilege to have witnessed their kindly ways.

To put it quite simply, Lynn and Glenna have made Orcas a better place for all of us by their unstinting volunteer work and committed presence all these years. We will continue to cherish them wherever they are.