William Richards

William Cowart Richards, 66, of Milledgeville GA, passed away on the morning of July 22, 2022. He is survived by his wife Vickie Mixon Brown Richards, his sons William Cowart Richards II of Milledgeville, Timothy Nathaniel Richards of Valdosta, GA, Kenneth Michael Richards (Stephanie) of Omaha, Nebraska, his stepsons Aaron Brown (Madelyn), and Seth Brown, both of Milledgeville, two brothers Robert Richards (Raylene) of Gulfport, MS, and Larry Richards (Donna), of McMinnville, OR, and sister Norma Jane Richards of Biloxi. He was predeceased by his parents Benjamin Ammon Richards III and Norma Agnes Fayard, of Biloxi, MS, and brother, Benjamin Ammon Richards IV, of Dallas, TX. William Cowart Richards Sr. was born on July 21,1956, at New Biloxi Hospital, in Biloxi Mississippi, the fourth of five children. His first job was working at one of the Gulf Coast's first, and now historic, McDonald’s at age 15 to provide for his younger brother and sister after their father's incapacitating stroke. He had no car at the time so he would walk to work. Those first hard but happy years led to the building of a tremendous, now rarely seen, work ethic. After graduating from Biloxi High School in 1975, he worked for Delchamps, a regional grocery store chain, while attending the local junior college. He next attended the University of Southern Mississippi, where he graduated in 1979, with a B.S. in Business Administration. He completed his Master’s Degree in Computer Science at LSU. His first professional job was in the accounting department at Mississippi Power in Biloxi, MS, where he remained until 1988, when he relocated to Arlington, Texas, and became an IT systems specialist at Northrop Grumman. During his years in Mississippi his two sons William “Will” and Timothy “Tim” were born on December 30, 1983, and July 1, 1986, respectively. During his years in Texas, his third son, Kenneth “Kenny” was born on August 12, 1992. While in Texas, William discovered a love for introducing young people to the joys of camping and outdoorsmanship. He became a den leader of Cub Scout troop 491 and later the Troop Master of Boy Scout troop 340, both of which included his two eldest sons. William loved camping, and made numerous trips both with the Boy Scouts and his family to many local and distant places including the Appalachian Trail, Petrified Forest National Park, Redwood National State Park, Monahans Sandhills, and the Grand Canyon, just to name a few. These adventures gave his family countless fond memories and sparked a lifelong love of camping and the outdoors in all of his sons. In 1996, a job opening at the then Milledgeville site of Northrop Grumman facilitated moving his family to Gray GA, where William built their home literally from the foundation up. This was accomplished while working full-time and living in a trailer parked in front of the house construction site. In 2002 he moved to Milledgeville Ga., where he became involved in Boy Scout Troop 87, with his youngest son and future stepsons. William was a driven, conscientious worker, always going above and beyond what was asked of him. As a software engineer, he was a programmer extraordinaire, building systems in the aerospace industry for accounting, manufacturing, and defense. He created software systems that ran both efficiently and reliably. He learned to program in early Fortran and Cobol, writing software for accounting systems, but as the computer industry grew, he mastered numerous computer languages, building applications across many different platforms. William’s accumulated level of knowledge and experience made him an invaluable asset to his company, Qarbon Aerospace, his employers, and colleagues. William weathered several changes in ownership of the Milledgeville aerospace company from Grumman to Northrup Grumman, to Vought, then Triumph, and finally Qarbon. He was poised to retire on the day of his untimely death, only returning to close out things following a long overdue vacation. William found love and happiness when he met his wife, Vickie, in Milledgeville. Neither of them knew what the term “soulmate” was until their hearts connected. Married for 12 years, both would say these were the happiest years of their lives. William and Vickie loved doing ordinary things together, as well as traveling. They square danced with the Oconee River Buskers for 10 years. Vickie became a Sci-Fi fan with William, and William accompanied Vickie to her many scrapbook workshops. Traveling took them across country from Alaska to the redwood forests of California, San Francisco, and the coast of Oregon, to Dallas and Ft. Worth, Texas, Biloxi, Mississippi, New Orleans, and the Gulf Coast. They enjoyed cruising, and visiting Florida from Key West to Jacksonville Beach. True Disney lovers, they were frequent visitors to Orlando. They traveled all over Georgia from the mountains to the coast. But there was no place like home and they loved just cuddling and watching Sci-Fi or RomComs on Netflix. William was loved by many and will be missed by all. Say hello to Bandit and Sid as you cross that Rainbow Bridge to heaven. Mississippi services will be Tuesday, August 9th, 2022, at 1:00 pm at Bradford O'Keefe Funeral Home, 675 Howard Avenue, Biloxi, MS 39530. Burial to follow at Coalville Methodist Church Cemetery, 12298 Shorecrest Rd., Biloxi, MS 39532.

William Richards

July 21, 1956 - July 22, 2022