Former Sitka Resident Frank B. Richards Dies
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- Created on Monday, 21 August 2023 12:22
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Frank Benham Richards
Frank Benham Richards, a longtime Sitka resident and businessman, passed on July 26, 2023, in Washington, Pennsylvania, surrounded by family. He was 74.Frank Benham Richards, a longtime Sitka resident and businessman, passed on July 26, 2023, in Washington, Pennsylvania, surrounded by family. He was 74.
Frank was born Nov. 11, 1948, in the Sitka Pioneers Home to Frank H.B. and Mary (Buckland) Richards. He attended Sitka High School, then went on to college at Lewis & Clark in Vancouver, Washington, finishing at Western Washington in Bellingham with a bachelor degree in industrial arts and a minor in accounting.
Returning to Sitka, he was the shop teacher at Sitka High, became the city building inspector, then opened his own businesses, Baranof Electric and the Potlatch Hotel. He also owned the former U.S. Forest Service building at Katlian Street and Siginaka Way.
Frank was involved in the community, serving on the Assembly and the Sitka Community Hospital board, and supporting local events.
He moved to Sequim, Washington, in 2013, and was there until this past May when he moved to Pennsylvania to be with one of his sons, Kevin.
He is remembered as a loving father and grandfather.
Frank’s second wife, Pamela Robertson-Richards, died in 2019. He was divorced from his first wife, Rebecca Maisel-Myer.
Frank is survived by his two sons and their families, Kevin and Tawnya and children Gavin, Kayda, and Eli, of Washington, Pennsylvania, and Christopher and Patricia and children Maya and Blake, of Houston, Texas; his brother, Norman Richards of Sitka; and a half-sister, Monica Melanie Clark of Granite Bay, California.
A remembrance of Frank’s life will be held from noon to 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 10, at the Sitka Elks Lodge.
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20 YEARS AGO
November 2004
Photo caption: Mary Lou Colliver presents Sitka Fire Dept. Acting Chief Dave Swearingen a check for $325 to help restore the 1926 Chevrolet fire truck originally purchased by Art Franklin. Colliver donated the money after her business, Colliver Shoes, borrowed the truck to use during Moonlight Madness. The truck is in need of an estimated $20,000 worth of restoration work, Swearingen said.
50 YEARS AGO
November 1974
Sitka Community Hospital Administrator Martin Tirador and hospital board chairman Lawrence Porter told the Assembly Tuesday about the need for a new hospital to replace the existing 18-year-old one. The cost would be about $6.89 million with $2.2 million of that required locally.
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