Our family have decided to create this tribute site to Richard, as a way to celebrate Richard's life and to capture some of the amazing memories we have of him over the years.
You will see on the site numerous photos that the family have uploaded over the last few days. If you'd like to add to this collection of pics of Richard, please do feel free to upload these and any messages about Richard and the happy times you may have had with him, as we'd love to see them.
Richard leaves a huge void in our family. He was dearly loved by all of us - his sons, Charlie and Henry; Rob and Zoe; his brothers John and Paul and of course his eight grandchildren - Naomi, Ethan, Fredric, Amelia, James, Ottilie, Ivy, and Anna. They will miss their very special grandad.
Richard has had a remarkable working life, joining his company, GF Smith, in January 1970 as an accountant, and in 1996 became Managing Director and Chairman and was a major shareholder. The family have received numerous comments from the GF Smith team including; 'remarkable man, wonderful leader, unfailingly courteous, gentle manner, and a recurring comment of 'a true gentleman'.
As some of you know, we moved into Linton nearly 24 years ago, and since then, Richard has been involved in various village organisations, and we've both enjoyed an amazing village life which has mainly revolved around the famous Windmill Inn! He enjoyed a good party, and particularly the village hall theme events, where he was known for 'going for it'!
We've decided that there should be no flowers for the funeral, other than from the immediate family. However, if you'd like to make a donation, we've chosen St. Gemmas Hospice in Leeds, as our preferred charity. We did consider the very popular 'NHS Charities Together', which has been so very much in the news recently, but looking back over the past, very difficult, six months of Richard's life, the organisation that helped both Richard and I so much was St Gemmas Hospice.
Richard spent over three weeks in the hospice since January, and they have an outstanding team of consultants, doctors, nurses, and clinical assistants, who are dedicated to caring for people with terminal illnesses. They were simply amazing, and even during the current restrictions, their support to us at home during Richard's last few weeks, was incredible and we can't thank them enough. We were also conscious that St Gemmas currently cannot raise funds very easily, all the charity shops are closed and they cannot hold any fundraising events.
I can't deny that it has been a difficult time over the past few months, but I'd like to thank you for all the help and support, and all the loving and caring comments I've received - it has been a great comfort to me.
Big hugs
Jill
Help grow Richard's Tribute by adding messages or memories you'd like to share.