William (Bill) Richardson

William Richardson, also known as Bill, age 87, passed away peacefully on December 14, 2013. Born March 16th, 1926 in Okmullgee, Oklahoma to Ruth and Melger Richadson, an attorney and mineral rights investor.

At 17 years old Bill enlisted and ended up serving as a corporal in the United States Marine Corps of the 26th regiment and 5th division. He was stationed in Kona, Hawaii in 1944 and sent to Iwo Jima where he was wounded and sent to a military hospital in Guam receiving a purple heart.

In 1948 he moved to Santa Barbara to attend school at UCSB where he began his writing career, and met his wife Frances Fehr, whom he told ‘I’m going to write, win, draw, or lose’. He would spend the rest of his life remembering his second chance. They moved to East Mountain Drive and became one of the original Bohemians with their dogs, burros, horses, and Purina the pet deer.

He began free diving the coast line before there were wet suits and was a subsistence hunter supplying his family with boar and deer meat. He was a creative writing instructor through City College’s Adult Education for 35 years. He danced and choreographed ballet performances and enjoyed ballroom dancing at the Biltmore on the weekends with his wife Frances.

He was a Santa Barbara Icon, inspiring so many and will be dearly missed. He is Survived by his daughter Jolie, son Gavin, granddaughter Shane and two great-granddaughters, Kira and Chloe.

A memorial gathering will be held on December 27th at 1:30pm, Montecito Cemetery; followed by a gathering at Los Arroyos at 2pm in Montecito. Contact: Shane King sking87@live.com or Jett Richards joliejett@live.com