I knew Bob Richardson for about 47 years. While a graduate student and teaching assistant at the University of Colorado I worked for him part time, 1966-1972, and we've been close friends ever since. Last August I met his Amtrak train in Denver and we had 25 wonderful days at dinner parties with friends in Denver and Santa Fe and traveling through the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and New Mexico, riding and photographing trains and attending the Narrow Gauge Convention in Durango and seeing friends everywhere. Bob started out with equal interests in philately, collecting stamps and "covers" (envelopes with cancelled stamps), and chasing and photographing steam and electric railroads. While his formal education ended with high school, he gave himself the equivalent of several college degrees later on. He had a talent for languages and his stamp collecting led him to learn how to read the Hawaiian language, Spanish, and Farsi. He served in Iran in World War II as a technical sergeant in the U.S. Army Signal Corps. He played a role in the preservation of both the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad and the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad, and, with Cornelius Hauck, founded the Colorado Railroad Museum. He also loved cats, and as long as he was the Executive Director, the Colorado Railroad Museum always housed a clowder of friendly cats. He not only wrote books and articles about railroad history, but wrote articles about postal history as well. I could write volumes about Bob, but let me summarize it by saying simply that he was the finest man I ever knew. There will very likely be a memorial to Bob in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, some time in April, and another at the Colorado Railroad Museum on May 21, which would have been his 97th birthday.
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Mike Trent |
February 24, 2007 10:26AM |
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Richard "Bo" Boulware |
February 24, 2007 10:44AM |
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John West |
February 24, 2007 11:08AM |
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Terry W. Shirley |
February 24, 2007 08:11PM |
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Mark Petersen |
February 24, 2007 10:55AM |
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Herb Kelsey |
February 24, 2007 03:51PM |
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Charlie Mutschler |
February 24, 2007 09:07PM |
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Dave Dye |
February 24, 2007 11:12AM |
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Stephen Peck |
February 24, 2007 06:07PM |
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Steve Stockham |
February 24, 2007 11:17AM |
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Steve Hughes |
February 24, 2007 11:26AM |
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PRSL |
February 24, 2007 11:41AM |
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Jerry Day |
February 24, 2007 12:45PM |
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El Coke |
February 24, 2007 12:54PM |
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Floppo |
February 24, 2007 02:15PM |
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Rich Muth |
February 24, 2007 02:59PM |
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Mike Ramsey |
February 24, 2007 03:24PM |
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El Coke |
February 25, 2007 11:33AM |
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John Cole |
February 26, 2007 12:01AM |
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El Coke |
February 26, 2007 08:07AM |
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Thor Windbergs |
February 26, 2007 03:03PM |
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Herb Kelsey |
February 24, 2007 04:11PM |
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John Bush |
February 24, 2007 04:35PM |
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Philip H. Walters |
February 25, 2007 09:22AM |
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John Kyler |
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Jon Waldon |
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Jerry Day |
February 24, 2007 01:10PM |
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Rick Steele |
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Jerry Day |
February 24, 2007 01:32PM |
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Jim Hollis |
February 26, 2007 09:58AM |
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Don Richter |
February 24, 2007 01:30PM |
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Mike Trent |
February 24, 2007 01:40PM |
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Everett Lueck |
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L.E.Trump |
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Matthew |
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Jon Waldon |
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Rod Jensen |
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Dennis Larson |
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Tim Schreiner |
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Richard "Bo" Boulware |
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hogger42 |
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Rod Jensen |
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Jerry Day |
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Tom Moungovan |
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Rick Steele |
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Donald Foster |
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El Coke |
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Ron Ruhoff |
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Allan Fisher |
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PRSL |
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PRSL |
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Eric Bracher |
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Herb Kelsey |
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Dan A |
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Tim Schreiner |
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chris ahrens |
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Linn W. Moedinger |
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Bill Dennehy |
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El Coke |
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Mark Valerius |
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Ted Miles |
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Dietrich |
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Art Gibson |
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Robert Herronen |
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John McCutcheon |
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Rod Jensen |
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Glen Brewer |
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Ted Wiese |
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Ted Miles |
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Gordon Chappell |
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Ted Miles |
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Gordon Chappell |
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Robin Warren |
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Ron Rosenquist |
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Greg Scholl |
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Gordon Chappell |
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