Condolences

• 09/03/2024

  Leland smith

  Joanne I'm so sorry for our loss. Being with John was always good times, and you were the icing on the cake. See you in your dreams.

• 09/03/2024

  Susan Elizbeth Hocking

  Darling Gregg...I am so very sorry for your loss. Your Dad was quite an interesting man, to say the least. Please know that I am thinking of you and will forever keep the memories of you and your Dad close to my heart. I am so glad that you have followed your dream. I know your Dad was proud of you! Love, Susan

• 09/03/2024

  Sue McGlinchey

  John was my cousin, and a loving brother to Mae. Mae, I am so sorry for your loss. How touched I was to learn that he was not so far away from you when he passed on. Joann, you are blessed to have had John in the final 10-year chapter of his life. I know you will severely miss him. Greg, your dad was fine man with a wonderful sense of humor. I am sorry for your loss. In sympathy, Cousin Sue from California

• 09/03/2024

  Wynn Weber nee Richards

  Deep felt sympathy on John's passing. I will always remember him as "my good looking funny Welsh cousin" in Ohio. The past twelve years with Joann was his magical fairy tale ending. All my love to family and friends.

• 09/03/2024

  Bob Wheeler

  It is with a broken heart that I write this condolence about John's passing. I will not be able to attend his funeral because of health issues. I have known John longer than any other person in my lifetime. As a young boy, I actually thought his parents were my Aunt and Uncle. We were inseparable growing up across the street from each other on Lincoln Heights. I have many fond memories of John and would like to mention just one that parallels his cousin Ruthie's condolence where she told about John starting a fire in his house from smoking. I am two years older than John. So it was when we were about 9 and 7 that we decided to steal two cigarettes from my Dad. Our intellect at that time said we should hide behind a hedge row at John's house. Not realizing, his mother could look out her kitchen window and see smoke pouring up from behind the hedges. She caught us smoking and marched me over to tell my mother what we had been doing. Several years later John served as the best man at my wedding, which was held in Richmond, Virginia. John's parents, Antie Susie and Uncle Tom, attended that wedding too. I was fortunate to talk with John by phone last Saturday at his nursing home and as always, we reminisced our childhood days in Steubenville. John moved back to Steubenville to be with Joann, his true love, and they had 10 wonderful years together. He got to enjoy dinners, dancing and trips with Joann, who treated him with love and affection. Andi Jo, Joann's daughter, has also provided considerable care of John and has made all the arrangements for his funeral. Now that's a true friend. I extend my condolences to Joann and her family and to the entire Richards family. I shall miss you John. God Bless you.

• 09/03/2024

  Ruth Richards Smith

  My heart has been filled with sadness today since I heard of my beloved cousin John's passing. He taught me how to play marbles when we were kids (he probably about 12 and me about 7). Looking back on this, I am certain he was told by Aunt Susie to play with me, but at that time I didn't think of that I would go to their house sometimes to spend the night with Mae, and one time I saw that the upstairs bathroom was blackened and closed off. I asked what happened, and Mae whispered to me that John had started a fire in there. I was around 9 years old, so John was a teenager then. I guessed he must have been smoking. John was a joker and an absolute fun guy to be around. In his younger days he looked just like Rock Hudson. We moved away when I was 10, but there were still some wonderful and memorable times together. I am so glad he met Joann ten years ago. They made each other very happy in their later years. My heartfelt sympathy to Joann and to his son Gregg. John will be missed by all of us.