Richard K. Anderson

Classmate Anecdotes

Dick Anderson - my first encounter.

September, 1947, Felchville School, First grade: We were six years old. I was late getting to Felchville as I was first assigned to Nathan Rice School on Pond Street. After the first week I was reassigned to Felchville. I lived somewhat closer as did Dick Wright, who lived two houses up on Bellevue Road. The teacher was Ms. Foley, and she was by far the finest looking teacher I have as yet to encounter. She was a babe. I was very happy to be there.

On this first day for me, I was seated next to Dick Anderson. Georgene sat in front and she came to school wearing two Hopalong Cassidy six guns holstered on each hip. She protected us all from enemies foreign and domestic. As was the custom, along about ten o’clock in the morning, the milk wagon would pull up to the school and unload cartons of half-pint bottles of milk. We were each given a bottle of milk and a soda cracker. As luck would have it when the crackers were passed out, we ran out by the time it reached me. Well, you know what happened here. Sensing an awkward moment for me, he just as a matter of course, broke his cracker in half and gave half to me. A small thing when taken in the context of a lifetime, but in retrospect, it said a lot about the boy who thought about the people around him and certainly about the man who carried this trait throughout his life.

To this very day, when I come upon a cracker, I break it in half and look about to see if everyone else has one.

Thanks Dick.

Ken Poole

My most memorial memory of Richard Anderson was being with him and others during Senior week at the high school planting the timed fireworks display for the next day. It was a tradition that the senior class did something memorable that week.

We had been on the top of the school in the dark when the police arrived, we all jumped down and were hiding down by the edge of the water over a bank in some bushes to avoid an encounter with the authorities.

Richard said as class President " I can't be caught doing something like this!" He then waded into the cold dark water and swam to the other side and then apparently walked home. I still remember seeing him fading into the darkness in a brown suede coat,........... awesome I thought, what a guy!

We were down the bank by the water when the cruiser went by on the road above and avoided detection. The rest of our group then made our way home.

Jim Walters

Memory Lane – Dick Anderson

First of all his name is Richie, but my name was Pete back in the “good old days”  and no one knows me by that name anymore, so I guess I’ll continue to use Richie as I reflect back on our times together.  During a toast at our son’s wedding, while looking at George Williams, I made the observation that families meld together and become related; however I always accepted close friends as part of my relations.  This certainly appears to be the case now as I try to reflect on my high school past and can’t help but think of friends as part of the family.  After all we have known each other for 65 years.  Quite frankly in our case, Richie, George Williams, Dickie, Alan Loane and Dick Powers were more than part of the family they were the people that helped to develop and shape our dreams. 

I recall  the four of us driving Allan to some place and how we believed in the Vietnam War, but only Allan was willing to do something about it.  Richie had a medical deferment (bad knees) and vividly remember him advising me about the perils of active duty compared to the National Guard.  We felt  an obligation to serve, but I think he believed it best to secure the borders first and then go overseas.

In Richie’s earlier years in college (I think he immediately enrolled in Dartmouth) he struggled and called me one day to see if I could help him pass a German test while attending Springfield  College while living with me.  The following fall he needed to earn some real money so worked for a pre-fabricated housing company where he immediately assumed a managerial role. 

That summer he and I sold pots and pans for the Wear-Ever company which gave him the opportunity to meet many single Boston women, including Mary Ann who lived on Comm. Ave.  After a short courtship they became engaged and asked me to be his best man at their Maine wedding.  My memory of the event is blurred and think that it was due to my inebriated condition not my current health status. 

Bruce Peterson

As for me, like almost everyone else, I thought of Dick as a true leader and definitely a Gentleman.  I am a "gentleman" by act of congress (retired Regular Army officer) but Dick was a gentleman by nature.  I will miss him.

Sincerely,

Jim Bradford

My best to my classmates and the Dick Anderson family in the coming New Year! My fondest memory of Dick was at the 2 reunions I attended in 1994 and 2009.  He took the time out of a busy schedule to give me the personal attention that I'm sure each classmate appreciated. This is what good leaders do. He would have had a successful career in politics, I'm sure. Yes, I would like to know more about the life and times of this wonderful man.

Pete Ranney 

My first memory of Dick Anderson is grade 6, (1952-1953) at the Bennett Hemingway School in North Natick, as a friendly outgoing individual, as well as being athletic.

Coach Matthews required the guys to participate in a softball throwing contest, and I thought I had that contest won with the farthest throw, until Richie Anderson threw the ball further and won the contest!

I think his natural smile would brighten up anyone’s day!

Ron Therieau

Rich could have been President.  There are no incidents in his past which would have caused him to recuse himself from running.  There was that night before our '59 graduation, in which I was also involved, but that was a prank and nothing serious.  By the way, I ran around the pond while he swam across.

Rich and I were very close, particularly from school years six through 12.  We frequently did our math homework together, we went to Sunday School together, and we double-dated a lot.  He was so bright, strong, serious, and ambitious--in a quiet way.  Many may have forgotten what a terrific athlete he was until he tore up his knee playing football.  In those days, such an injury prevented one from ever being the same athletically.

While driving in the car, Rich and I liked to sing, harmonizing to songs like those of the Everly Brothers.  We were good!!!  We both lived on Lake Cochituate and loved boating and skating.  Neither one of us could skate like Dickie Wells, however. Rich, Pete, Dickie and I were blessed to have been brought up without having to move.  We were so close for so many years.  Rich, once he went off to college, started a new life.  He started working, formed his company, and met and married his wife.  The rest of us were thinking (but not really doing it) about growing up.  Rich did it and was marvelously successful.

Years later, when I was commuting between Dallas and Boston, thanks to Jo Drowne (King), several of us would get together every few years for dinner.  Rich would drive me back to the hotel, on occasion, and it gave us a terrific opportunity to catch up.  I always believed he confided in me as he had done in the old days.

What a wonderful person.  I miss him terribly.

George Williams