WOOTTEN, Richard Austin

Richard Austin Wootten, born

November 7, 1940 died peacefully Friday night. The son of Oren Lilton Wootten and Catherine Brim Wootten,

Richard was a lifelong resident of Fulton County.

His dramatic birth in a famously slow elevator in route to the labor and delivery ward of Crawford W. Long

Hospital gave license to a lifetime of retellings. “That’s why I’ve always had my ups and downs”.

Richard was raised in the shadow of the Courthouse of

Old Campbell County in

Fairburn, Georgia. He was a child of the fifties and grew up under the watchful eye of two doting, but older parents and his loving sister Delouise

Wootten Petty. Richard attended Campbell High

School in Fairburn where his father was an educator and principal. Richard graduated in 1958 and worked briefly for the City of Atlanta. He served in the Army Reserve having completed his basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina in 1959. He was activated, but never deployed during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. He would often retell the nervous days leading up to the proposed action and the butterflies he still felt 50 years later.

Richard briefly attended Smith-Hughes Vocational School in Southwest Atlanta where he met and married Jackqulyn Idma Reagan Wootten of Lakewood. They would marry in 1962 and spent the next 40 years together until her death in 2002. In those 40 years Richard and Jackie created a full life in South Fulton County. They raised four sons, Richard Daniel Wootten of Colorado Springs, Colorado, Charles David Wootten of Atlanta, Michael Oren Wootten of Fayetteville and Jeffrey Todd Wootten of Fairburn. Richard joined the Postal service in 1962 and for most of that time delivered mail from the Main Post Office in downtown College Park.

Four growing boys and middle class ambition led Richard into many second vocations. Over the years he worked after-hours security at several shopping malls and department stores throughout Southwest Atlanta. Still Richard found time for duty as little league coach and Cub Scout leader.

Life would bring Richard 13 grandchildren and 8 great grandchildren. In 2002, Richard retired from the Postal Service with the single goal of being a part of their lives. Soccer games on chilly mornings, many Friday nights in the stadium, dance recitals, school plays and countless graduations brought him great joy. Richard found singular happiness by tagging along for what ever activity was on the schedule. He found neighborhood fame and hours of pleasure waving from his front porch rocking chair to every person who passed by. Richard enjoyed good health until dementia began to take a slow and progressive toll. Richard remained gentle and happy throughout. His caregivers in his final days recall Richard as “the sweetest man in the whole building”. Sadly, complications of dementia ended his life on October 16, 2020. Out of respect for the health and safety of his large adoring family, services will be planned in less precarious times.

In lieu of flowers think of Richard and give someone close a loving hug just a little tighter for just a little longer than usual and wave at your neighbor whether they are wearing a mask or not.