Richard Drive honors former Henderson fire chief
May 6, 2013 - 2:26 pm
Dennis Richard was talking to a teacher one day when she casually mentioned where she lived.
“She said she lived on Richard Drive,” Richard said. “Then she said, ‘I think it was named for your dad.’ ”
Taken back by her comments, Richard called his father, Wilbur Richard.
“He said he knew about it,” he said. “I’m surprised he never mentioned it.”
Richard Drive, in Henderson near Valle Verde Drive and Osborne Lane, was dedicated to former fire chief Wilbur Richard more than 20 years ago, Dennis Richard said.
His dad was born in a small town in Illinois in 1916.
“It was a little city that had less than 200 people,” he said.
Wilbur Richard was a contractor who painted the exteriors and interior of houses for a living.
But the winters in Illinois weren’t kind to the family.
“My mother had pneumonia nearly every winter,” Richard said. “She also had tuberculosis.”
The doctor warned her that if she didn’t do something, she wouldn’t survive another winter.
Wilbur Richard packed up the children and his wife and headed west.
The family stumbled upon the Basic Townsite, now Henderson, in 1951.
“We had never been here before,” Richard said. “I hated it. Illinois had grass and trees, and I really missed it. But I came to love it.”
Searching for work, Wilbur Richard couldn’t find a job in his previous field of painting.
“Everything was a union job,” Richard said. “You either went through the union or you didn’t work.”
His father began working for the townsite’s fire department.
When the city was incorporated in 1953, Wilbur Richard continued with the department, helping it grow.
Because of his abilities, Richard said the director of safety appointed him to be the interim fire chief.
With the new responsibility, his dad became an avid reader on fire safety.
“He would read everything he could find on the latest and greatest methods,” he said.
At that time, the department was small.
To help increase the size of the staff, Richard said his dad implemented the Henderson Fire Department youth program, where high school boys would serve as volunteer firefighters.
“They would get 25 cents an hour,” he said. “If you did it for a whole year, you would get high school credit.”
Having the extra manpower helped the department grow, he said.
Richard remembers signing up for it in 1956, which later influenced him to work for the Henderson Fire Department and the Clark County Fire Department.
He doesn’t recall how long his dad worked with the fire department, but he estimated it was more than 25 years.
“He really loved the challenge of the job,” he said.
During Richard’s years as a firefighter, he would always ask his dad’s opinion on the profession.
He remembers after the MGM Grand fire in 1980, his dad did a walk-through with him after the damage.
“I learned more that day than I had learned on the job,” he said.
Wilbur Richard died in 1999.
Contact Henderson/Anthem View reporter Michael Lyle at mlyle@viewnews.com or 702-387-5201.
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