Image Up Advertising & Design

| SUN LAKES LIFESTYLES | DECEMBER 2016 | 69 Friends we will miss Alfred M. Richards, along with his wife of 67 years, Carolina, were 23 year residents of Sun Lakes Country Club. After a battle with Multiple Myeloma, Al passed away on October 3, 2016 after reaching his 90th birthday on August 15. Al was born in Los Angeles, CA, raised primarily in East Los Angeles, where he attended Garfield High School. After graduating he enlisted in the Navy, serving in the Pacific during World War II. After marrying Carolina, the Richards set-up household in the town of Rivera, which later became the city of Pico Rivera. Along with childhood friends who also moved to Pico Rivera, they raised three sons, Glenn, Norman and Robert. Al's love of sports led him to coach his sons in varied sports leading him to guide the Rivera Baseball Association (RBA), and establish the Pico Rivera Junior Athletic Association (PRJAA). These athletic associations guided multiple generations of Pico Rivera youth to multiple city, county, and state champion teams, in most cases coached by Mr. Richards. As his children and their peers grew, Al turned his to attention to the city's award winning high school, leading the Don Booster Club of El Rancho High School during its successful football, basketball, and baseball CIF championship years of the 60s and 70s. These civic activities were accomplished while professionally working as the General Manager of Union Packing Company, the largest meat packing company west of the Mississippi. After 45 years in Pico Rivera, Al and Carol moved to Sun Lakes, where he continued his love of golf learned at the Montebello Country Club, where he and his friends held the 8 am tee time on Saturday for 25 years. As Carol learned the game, they joined the Men and Women Golf Clubs and golfed for 20 plus years. As a member of a golf group nicknamed "Mexican Mafia," Al's greatest thrills were his two hole-in-ones on the championship and executive courses. The other thrill enjoyed by the Richards was attending the college graduation of his children from UCLA, Claremont Men's College, San Diego State, and Long Beach State Universities, and the future expected graduation of his three grandchildren. At a luncheon held on Oct. 29, at the North Clubhouse, proclamations and letters of recognition and appreciation were presented from the State of California, County of Los Angeles, City of Pico Rivera and the El Rancho School District for his leadership in guiding and developing the youth of Pico Rivera and the greater Southern California area. Stories were shared about Al by his friends, Sun Lakes residents and the many of the children whose lives he touched. The Richards family greatly appreciates the outpouring of love and support they have received. Joan Irene Burkhart Shupe, a 25 year resident of Sun Lakes passed away in Riverside on October 3, 2016 at the age of 82. Joan was born in Hartford, Connecticut. She was married in Wethersfield, Connecticut to Gary Shupe while he was in the Air Force. She was an interior designer for a large furniture store in Upland, California for 20 years. She is a past member of Executive Women International and Soroptomist of the Foothills, Ontario, California. Joan and her husband enjoyed 27 years of retirement traveling in their RV and crossed the country numerous times visiting friends and family in Connecticut, Pennsylvania and South Carolina. She loved playing bingo and canasta in Sun Lakes and sewing, reading and doing various crafts. She is survived by her husband and three children: Deborah Murray, Pamela Lansing and Brenda Kraus, seven grandchildren, Nicole Stockton, Michael Nelson, Justin McCullough, Brittany Murray, Caitlin Lansing, Heather Donovan and Nathaniel Kraus, five great grandchildren, Felicitie McCullough, Alexandria Stockton, Arrabella McCullough, Holly Donovan and Ace Donovan. May she rest in peace.

• Cover