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Pat Richards Loves Adventure, Family and Falcons Landing!

Posted on 
September 7, 2021

Written by Fran Rowan

If West Point had been accepting females at the time she went to college, Pat Richards would have applied. She is from an all-Army family. Her father, as well as both grandfathers, husband, and brother were in the Army. She tells a funny story about one of her grandfathers who was the commanding officer at Alcatraz. At that time, Alcatraz was a military prison for young soldiers who were deserters. Her grandfather heard about a possible prisoner uprising in 1926 and called the prisoners together and told them that if they tried to escape, he would not send the guards after them if they wanted to swim to San Francisco. He pointed out San Francisco, a little dot across the vast expanse of water. Unsurprisingly, there were no takers.

Pat Richards was born in Ft. Meade, Md., where her father was stationed. She graduated from high school in Orleans, France, and started college at Skidmore. After one year at Skidmore, she transferred to the University of Texas because her parents had moved to Ft. Sam Houston.. It was in Texas that she met her husband, Ed, who was in flight training there. Pat and Ed were married in Texas and traveled to Germany soon after. Their first two children, daughters, were born in Germany.

During their travels, two more children were born, a son and another daughter. Pat kept busy as a volunteer for the American Red Cross, and she played bridge. At one point, when her husband was stationed in Okinawa, she was Program Chair of the Far East Division of the Girl Scouts. She also became interested in painting watercolors and in embroidery.

When Ed retired, they moved to Kingsmill in Williamsburg. There, Pat became very active in the Embroiderers Guild of America, serving as president of her chapter several times. Her volunteer work included managing the gift shop of the Williamsburg Community Hospital and working for Housing for Habitat Restore, which she found particularly rewarding.

Outside activities included playing golf with the 18-hole ladies at Kingsmill and acting as chairperson of the greenside reporters for the PGA at their Kingsmill tournaments.

Pat combines her love of traveling and being with her family. The entire family goes to Duck, N.C., for a week every year. She also goes to a family YMCA camp with her daughter and family one week every summer and is willing to try anything once, even ziplining!

One of Pat's daughters lives in Williamsburg, and two daughters and a son live in the Leesburg area, a large factor in her decision to move to Falcons Landing. She also has 11 grandchildren and three greatgrandchildren. Pat plans to continue her travels and is pleased to have Falcons Landing as her home base and we are very pleased to have her here.

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