John Darcy Richardson

John Darcy Richardson, 85, of Santa Rosa, California passed away Thur, Sept 28, 2017. A service will be held 2:00 pm, Friday Oct 6, 2017 at Resurrection Catholic Church, 303 Stony Point Rd., Santa Rosa, CA; Father David Shaw will be presiding; a burial will follow 12:00 pm on Saturday at Holy Cross cemetery, 1500 Mission Rd, Colma, CA. Memorials may be made to the National Foster Parent Association, http://nfpaonline.org/donate.

John was born July 10, 1932 in Niagara Falls, NY and spent his youth in nearby Youngstown attending the all-grade Youngstown School, notably awarded the National Bausche & Lomb Science Scholarship in high school. John was a member of the Army’s 82nd Airborne during the Korean Conflict. After which, he took a spontaneous road-trip to Northern California in the early-60s on the promise of an area-need for building engineers. He landed in San Francisco and became active in the wildly varied local culture. Of particular note was his lifelong membership in the International Tall Club where he met the deepest love of his life, his wife – Joan Faulkner, who unfortunately passed in 2001. John was an active Civil and Surveying Engineer for the Operating Engineers Union, Local 3, for 30 years.

John’s memory was encyclopedic; he had the sharpest and most astute of minds complemented by an endlessly generous heart; he was truly a beautiful person and a soft soul, peppered with eccentricity. John is survived by a large family of foster children, two sisters, nieces, nephews, cousins and an extensive greater community of friends, who to John were family as well. He will be missed by many, particularly his two sisters – Ruth and Jane and the daughters and sons he lovingly brought into his life – Barbara, Pauline, Mark, Tracy, Robert, Larry, Joel, John, Vince, Steve, Aaron, Heath, Michael, Chris.