Ruth Anne Richards

Ruth Anne (Dick) Richards, of Poughkeepsie, passed away on Monday, March 4, 2024 at The Landing of Poughkeepsie. She was born on January 7, 1932 in Wilmington, Delaware, the daughter of the late Walter David Racine, Jr. and Helen (Solway) Racine. A lifelong member of the First Church of Christ, Scientist, she passed from this world as she wished — quietly, peacefully and surrounded by her closest friends and family.

Ruth Anne was raised in Wilmington, Delaware. As a child she summered on Long Island, New York, then in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware through most of her adult life. She attended public elementary and high school in Wilmington, and met her future husband, William Allen (Bill) Dick, Jr. as a junior in high school. As high school sweethearts, they attended their Senior Prom together in 1949 and were married four years later. During those intervening years, Ruth Anne attended the Peabody Conservatory of Music at Johns Hopkins University of Baltimore, graduating with a BS in Music in Piano and Voice in 1953. Bill graduated from the University of Delaware, also in 1953, then served in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in St. Louis from 1954 to 1956. Their first child, William, was born at the end of their time in St. Louis, after which they moved to New York. They settled in Poughkeepsie in early 1957, where she resided for the next 67 years.

Bill passed in 1984. She married Lorne E. Richards of Poughkeepsie in 1992. They lived in Red Oaks Mill until his death in 2015.

Ruth Anne and Bill had five children, all survive. William Allen (Katrina) of Champaign, Illinois, Scott Francis of Stafford, Virginia, Andrew David (Tara) of Wilmington, Delaware, Mark Steven (Arlene) of Croton-on-Hudson, New York, and Dawn-Lynn (Joseph) Crawford of Angier, North Carolina. Her marriage to Lorne brought her great happiness, along with a wonderful set of extra children, Steven (Carla) Richards of Saratoga Springs, New York, Dawn Elizabeth (Kurt) Altmann of Poughkeepsie, and Gwynne (John) Bayne of Horseheads, New York. Ruth Anne leaves behind 17 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. Beyond her children and grandchildren, she had many, many friends and colleagues in Poughkeepsie and the surrounding area, including Mindy Fradkin of Newburgh, Carol Owens of Poughkeepsie, and her “favorite step-niece” Hilary Richards of Poughkeepsie.

Her contributions to the community were many as a tireless volunteer and contributor in the area. She taught piano to hundreds of young people in the Hudson Valley over more than 60 years of teaching, accompanied many school musicals and shows, hosted and cohosted decades of sports programs in football, baseball and softball, and co-parented and guided dozens of neighborhood kids between 1960 and 1985. Ruth Anne took special pride in her contributions and leadership in the Patrons for Young Artists program, serving as its Music Director for many years, as well as decades playing piano in accompanying young musical performers in the annual New York State School Music Association Competitions.

Ruth Anne was a unique and fascinating member of Poughkeepsie and Wappingers Falls. Her dedication to children and young adults, her own and myriad others, is a feature we hope has not left the Hudson Valley. She will be greatly missed.

A Celebration of Life will be held in Poughkeepsie in on April 15, 2023 at 11AM at the Miller Funeral Home.