William Stephen Richardson III

William Stephen Richardson, III, age 53, passed away peacefully on August 1, 2020 after a brief illness. Stephen is a Rotary International Paul Harris Fellow. This status was given to him in recognition of his outreach of kindness to all whom he came into contact with during his lifetime. Stephen was a K-12 student at Saint Christopher’s School in Richmond. He graduated in 1985. He was a three sport athlete and earned many achievement certificates from his football coach (scored three TD’s in one game), was goalie in lacrosse, and a co-captain of the track team. Stephen received his BA in English from Virginia Commonwealth University. He often thought of pursu-ing a Masters degree and then, a PHD. Stephen worked in the restaurant industry especially with family at Bill’s Barbecue, Inc., in Richmond. He enjoyed work experience with Goodwill Industries of Central and Coastal Virginia and worked at the Midlothian Turnpike facility. Throughout his short life, Stephen loved to write daily and was an extremely gifted and prolific writer. He left behind nearly a hundred journals full of beautiful watercolor and colored pencil illustrations, stories, poetry, and observations about life, the mystery of angels and the universe, and his love for World War II history. You could have called him an expert in WWII history particularly for his extensive knowledge of the military tanks, aircraft, and insignia in Europe. Stephen enjoyed the music of his youth but his real love early on was classical music (Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, et all.) He could identify classical music by composition and composer and offer informative commentary about each piece. A brief tour through Europe in his early 20’s enhanced his appreciation for classical music. Stephen loved fishing and his passion for fishing started as a toddler. Throughout his life he was fre-quently found with a fishing pole in hand heading towards some watery location. Stephen enjoyed fishing trips throughout Virginia from trout fishing on the Cascades to light-line fishing for blues in the Chesa-peake Bay. Summer vacations to Florida included lazy days of pier fishing on the St. Johns River at LongStop in Jacksonville to fishing on Crystal River, the Rainbow Run, to Key West. His love of fishing led to an adventurous 16th birthday present: a trip to Great Bear Lake near the Arctic Circle in the North-west Territory of Canada with his best fishing and hunting buddy, his dad. Stephen loved hunting and enjoyed many days in the fall dove fields and duck marshes with his dad. He was a great wing-shot and enjoyed many activities that led him into the great outdoors. Stephen was a kind, caring, and fun-loving soul and will be sorely missed. Stephen is survived by his father, W. S. (Steve) Richardson, Jr., and his mother, Linda, as well as his sis-ters, Lynda L. Richardson and her husband, Michael S. Ostrander, Karen E. Richardson, and W. Stepha-nie Richardson and her partner, Nigel Clarke. Stephen’s heart was touched by the warmth of the outreach for support by St. Judes Children’s Research Hospital. He considered it a good charity. He also thought well of the Shriner’s Crippled Children’s Hos-pital. Stephen’s interment was at Westhampton Memorial & Cremation Park in a private service.