John "Jack" Richards

John "Jack" Richards, 88, of Iowa Falls, passed away Monday, December 18, 2017 at the Hubbard Care Center. Funeral services will be 10:30 am Friday, December 22, 2017 at the First United Methodist Church in Iowa Falls. Burial will be at the Union Cemetery. Visitation will be from 5-7 pm on Thursday, December 21 at the Woodley Funeral Home. Per request of the family, in lieu of flowers, memorials should be considered to the Jack Richards Math Scholarship at Ellsworth Community College. Woodley Funeral Home, LLC of Iowa Falls is caring for Jack and his family. John Richards was born in 1929 to John F. and Lillian E. Richards in Redfield, South Dakota. John graduated from Sibley High School in Sibley, Iowa with the class of 1949. He attended Iowa State Teachers College (UNI) where he received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1951. He was drafted into the United States Marine Corps in September of 1951 during the Korean War. He received an honorary discharge September of 1953. He taught high school mathematics and physics at Corwith, Iowa for three years. He was the baseball coach there and his team won the State Baseball Championship against all the big schools. He was very proud of that. John went back to Iowa State Teachers College and received his Masters of Arts in Education in 1957. He accepted a position at Ellsworth Community College in Iowa Falls as Professor of Mathematics in the fall of 1957. He attended two summer school sessions at New Mexico State, working on his PhD until his wife became ill. John retired in May of 1990 after teaching at Ellsworth for thirty three years. John was married to his first wife Onalee in 1952. To this union were born three children: Thomas, William and Jolene. Onalee passed away in 1974 of cancer. On July 9, 1983 John and Rita Weiland were married at the First United Methodist Church in Iowa Falls, Iowa. They were married for 35 years. John’s hobbies included bowling, golf, coaching Little League Baseball, woodworking and making beautiful clocks. He also enjoyed putting together ship and airplane models. After retirement, John and Rita enjoyed travelling and spending part of the winters in Florida. One of his favorite travels was going to England twice to take in all the historical sites…especially Stonehenge. John was a member of the local band called Dow Jones and the Averages for twenty years and loved playing the valve trombone. Music was his passion. John “Jack” Richards is survived by his wife, Rita Richards of Iowa Falls, Iowa; his sons, Thomas (Cindy) Richards of Raleigh, North Carolina and William (Anna) Richards of Lakewood, Colorado; a daughter, Jolene (David) Larson of West Des Moines, Iowa; step-daughter, Cynthia Stewart of Ames, Iowa; step-son, David (Deanna) Gross of Keller, Texas; brothers in-law, Roger (Marlys) Weiland of Lake City, Florida, Ray (Mary) Weiland of Rhome, Texas and Harlan (Avis) Crosswait of Lakeland, Florida; sisters in-law, Ramona (Pat) Orr of West Palm Beach, Florida, Sandy Weiland of Port St. Lucie, Florida and Mary Weiland of Nevada, Iowa; grandchildren: Meredith and Jackson Richards, Alex, Tanya, Zachary, Matthias, Maria and Catherine Larson, Jonathan and Jared Gross, Audrey and Rachel Caudill, Donald (Sami) and Witney Beebe, Emily and Nicholas Stewart as well as four great-grandchildren and many nieces and nephews. John was preceded in death by his parents; his first wife; a sister in-law, Mary Richards; brother, Robert Richards and brothers in-law: Robert, Ronald, Roland, Keith and Kenneth Weiland.

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John "Jack" Richards

December 18, 2017