James Hollins (Jim) Richardson was born August 16, 1928, in Alton, Illinois, the only child of James H. Richardson and Ethel Marie Leonard Richardson. He died January 3, 2016 in Coupeville, Washington, three weeks after moving to Washington from Alaska.

As a young child Jim moved to the Richardson family farm in Rentschler, Illinois, then to Houston, Texas, where he was primarily raised. Beginning at age 16, he worked for five summers at forestry jobs in Montana and Oregon. He entered Oregon State College (later Oregon State University) in 1945 and graduated with a degree in Forest Management in 1950. Later, wanting to take advantage of the G.I. Bill, he received an MS in Forest Management in 1958.

During his junior year at Oregon State, Jim met a redhead at a mixer dance and announced to his friends after the dance that he had met the girl he was going to marry. When asked if she knew it, he said, “No, but she will.” It took some time, but the redhead, known as Pinkie, did agree and their marriage lasted 65 years. Three daughters were born to this marriage.

Shortly after college, Jim was drafted to serve in the Korean War and spent 1952 in Korea in the infantry. Upon returning home, he went to work as a forester for the Bureau of Land Management. His career took him from Salem, Eugene, and Roseburg, Oregon, then to Anchorage, Alaska. Though he arrived in Alaska in January of 1964, his family joined him on March 27 of that year, arriving just two hours before the Good Friday earthquake. After eight years in Anchorage, Jim was transferred to Washington, D.C., where he headed the Division of Fire Control and Law Enforcement. In 1980 he returned to Anchorage, where he worked on permitting for the pipeline for five years before retiring from the BLM.

One of the major projects of Jim’s retirement was his work as chairman of the committee to form the Kenai Mountains-Turnagain Arm National Heritage Area. From the seed of an idea through nearly a dozen years of research and committee work, as well as a several trips to lobby Congress and the congressional delegation, eventually the KMTA National Heritage Area bill was signed into law in 2009 by President Obama. Only the second such area in the western United States and the first in Alaska, this scenic corridor highlights historic and culturally important transportation routes such as native trails, the original Iditarod trail, the Alaska Railroad, and the Seward Highway.

Jim was an avid skier, hiker, and fisherman. He was a longtime supporter of Camp Fire Alaska, beginning with construction and dock maintenance at Camp K and continuing as a board member and president. He was a member of the First Congregational Church, a fellow of the Society of American Foresters, and an active member of the Cooper Landing Sexy Senior Dumpster Cleaners.

He is survived by his wife, Muriel Gray (Pinkie) Richardson, daughters Kathryn (Katy) McKinney (Bill), Trout Lake, WA, and Brit Ritchey, Eggleston, VA, as well as grandchildren Ben McKinney, Bellingham, WA, Molly McKinney-Holcomb (Geoffrey), Paisley, Scotland, and Cara Curtis (Scott Schnur), Cambridge, MA. He was predeceased by his parents and his oldest daughter, Suzanne Richardson Curtis.

A celebration of Jim’s life will be held at the First Congregational Church on Tuesday, June 28, 2016 at 2 p.m., followed by a reception in the church hall. Burial will be in the Cooper Landing Cemetery. Family suggests memorials in Jim’s memory may be made to Camp Fire Alaska at 161 Klevin Street, Anchorage, AK 99508 or online at campfireak.org

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of James Hollins Richardson, please visit our Heartfelt Sympathies Store.