COLUMBIA – Celebration of Life Services for Richard Alan Pope, 87, will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Friday, March 23, 2018 at Dunbar Funeral Home, Devine Street Chapel, with burial to follow in Greenlawn Memorial Park. Visitation will be held one hour prior to the services at the funeral home.
Mr. Pope passed away Monday, March 19, 2018. Born in Baltimore, Maryland on March 4, 1931, he was a son of the late Archie Weldon and Ella Sutton Pope.
Richard was known for his quick wit and generous heart. He enjoyed his Redneck Dinner Club buddies and long drives with the love of his life, his wife Jean. Together they shared generously with the community in time and treasure. He was never happier than when he was traveling with Jean, and their journeys took them across the globe from Tahiti to St. Petersburg. He trekked in the snows of Yellowstone to watch wolves and chased frogs out of huts in Costa Rica for Jean. He swam in the Galapagos with his daughter and toured Civil War battlefields with his son. In recent years, he watched his grandchildren grow, play and compete, always with a smile, a joke and a kind word.
Richard was a graduate of University of Maryland where he played lacrosse on two National Championship teams as goalkeeper. His tenure at Maryland was interrupted by two years in the United States Air Force. Following his graduation, Richard was employed with the Southern Railway Company in Atlanta, Georgia. It was in Atlanta at what Richard described as “the most unsafe pool party ever” he met Jean and began a courtship that turned into a 56 year marriage. After stints with General Electric and Martin Marietta, Richard settled into a career with the Federal Land Bank, now AgFirst Bank, where he retired in 1987. In retirement, Richard sold real estate for Russell Jeffcoat Realtors and entertained countless young couples buying their first homes.
A former member of Rosewood Baptist Church, Richard also attended church at Trinity Presbyterian Church where he served as an Elder.
Surviving are his wife, Jean Sewell Pope; a daughter, Mary Elaine Pope of Charleston, South Carolina; a son, Alan W. Pope, and daughter-in-law, Mary Beth Pope of Charlotte, NC; and three grandchildren, Richard Alan Pope II, Mary Catherine Pope and Anna Elizabeth Pope.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Hawaii Baptist Academy, 21 Bates St., Honolulu, HI 96817.
Please sign the online guestbook at www.dunbarfunerals.com.
