Obit: Richards, Barbara Diane “Barb” (1949 - 2022)

Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Richards, Elmhorst, Lemke, Nesvick

----Source: Neptune Society Cremation Services (Houston, TX) 4/23/2022

Richards, Barbara Diane “Barb” (12 June 1949 – 24 February 2022)

Barbara "Barb" Dianne (Lemke) Richards was born on June 12, 1949, in Marshfield, Wisconsin. She lived on the family dairy farm at Loyal, Wisconsin until she went off to college in Oshkosh in 1967. Her parents were Harold and Vera (Elmhorst) Lemke. She was the second of four children.

After marrying George Richards on September 14, 1968, at Loyal, Wisconsin and moving to the Chicago area later that year, she worked for the Leo Burnett Advertising Agency. When her husband’s career took them back to Wisconsin, she was able to complete her college education and received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing in 1977. She followed her childhood love of babies into the workplace, working as a Neonatal nurse at Memorial City and Southwest Memorial Hospitals in Houston in subsequent years.

While she retired officially in 2016, Barbara left professional nursing in 1981 to provide for the medical and special educational needs of son Geoffrey. She continued to receive continuing education which maintained her nursing license status throughout all those years. She would never acknowledge her degree of education when dealing with the medical community on behalf of her family but would use her knowledge to balance the assistance/diagnosis provided. The family thought of her as a “blessing”, being given the tools to deal with Geoffrey’s special needs.

She was a member of Trinity Lutheran Church in Loyal, Wisconsin and Covenant Lutheran Church in Houston. She served on the Altar Guild and assisted in Offering Counting as well as the Prayer Chain for Covenant for many years.

Barbara was a Girl Scout troop leader in the 1990s for Troop 5106. She regularly attended Autism Conferences to assist in the care and education of her son, Geoffrey. She also volunteered with "The Sheltering Arms", which provided services to the sick and elderly. Barbara was an avid supporter of both of her daughters' participation in synchronized swimming.

In her younger days, she played clarinet in the Loyal High School Marching Band. Barbara was salutatorian in High School and the Prom Queen her Junior year. She was an active advocate in the special education/life skills programs of her son Geoffrey throughout his education in the public school system. She was a seamstress and enjoyed making costumes for her children as well as baking during the holidays. She was interested in family history and her husband’s amateur radio hobby, having studied it when the time permitted it, including while confined to her nursing home. She searched out a variety of activities to keep her mind sharp until her final weeks.

Barbara was Resilient, Compassionate, Selfless, and a devoted wife and mother. Family was everything to her. She was preceded in death by her parents, Harold and Vera. Barbara leaves behind an older sister, Sandra (Lemke) Nesvick and two younger brothers, Tom (Susan) Lemke and Ken (Barb) Lemke, as well as her husband of 53 years, George, and three children, Jennifer, Geoffrey, and Danica.