Louise Richards

Waterford — Louise Marie (Russell) Richards, 84, was called home on March 31, 2017.

Born in Northampton, Mass., on Dec. 14, 1932, Louise was the daughter of Agnes Elizabeth (North) Russell and James Henry Russell. She married the love of her life, Chuck Richards, on June 5, 1954, and was the Wendy to Chuck’s Peter Pan, trying to keep him grounded while he in turn enchanted her life.

Louise will be remembered as a loving wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. Her interests focused mostly on her husband and family and as such she was very involved in church and civic causes that included the Girl Scouts of America and Women’s Fellowship Group at Second Congregational Church in New London. Her family could always mark the early start of the holidays as Louise was intimately involved with the church’s annual holiday bazaar. Her legacy of Swedish Christmas cookies is now carried through her children and into her grandchildren’s Christmas traditions and are a family favorite eagerly waited for every year.

Being married to Chuck meant a lifetime of camping and hiking and there are many fond memories of slow times around campfires and even the occasional melted shoes from having her feet too close to the fire. She was involved in the Lads and Lassies Square Dance Group, as well as the Nutmeg Miata Club where Chuck would take her in their Miata convertible on the back roads to wherever they were traveling. More often than not, Louise was known to remark that Chuck could have taken a quicker route to wherever they were going, but getting there fast was not their thing so they experienced a lot of beautiful countryside in their travels.

She will be missed but never forgotten. Louise’s memory will be carried on by her daughter, Susan of Newton, Mass., her son, Scot and his wife, Cyndi, of Waterford, and her daughter, Lisa and her husband, Tom, of East Kingston, N.H. Her legacy also lives on through her loving and nurturing relationships with her 11 grandchildren, Jason, Eric, Walker, Emily, Christopher, Kevin, Heidi, Brandon, Jordan, Patrick and Michael, and five great-grandchildren, Mason, Chase, Hailey, Jaxson and Kenzie.

A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, April 12, 2017, at the Thomas L. Neilan & Sons Funeral Home, 12 Ocean Ave., New London. Those inspired by Louise’s story are strongly encouraged to donate to Vitas Hospice Services, 628 Hebron Ave., No. 300, Glastonbury, CT 06033, as they are the closest thing to angels on earth that we have.