Richard Bruce Anderson passed away peacefully, surrounded by his family, on February 11, 2025 in Jacksonville, Florida. He lived a full life of love, faith, service and humor, always giving more than he received. The Lord called him home where he joins our sweet mother and his wonderful life partner of 64 years, Nancy Charlene (Gimmy) Anderson, who passed away in 2022. Richard (Dick) is survived by his children Stephen (Bea), John (Pam), Joy (Pedro) and Paul (Rachelle), along with grandchildren Hayley, Sydney, Lani and Arya. While grieving his passing, our family shares a common joy from being part of his life and we celebrate a life well lived.

Richard was born in 1934, as the first of five brothers, from humble beginnings as a poor farm boy in Independence, Missouri during the Great Depression. His mother and father (Loren and Ruby Anderson) were spiritual, hard-working parents, serving as great role models in surviving hardship with grace, dignity and faith. Growing up in hard times helped to shape Richard to be the dedicated, service-driven, fun-loving family man that he became. He was the first member of his extended family to graduate from High School and then College. As a teenager, he started a band with his brother Jimmy, performing in local venues and earned a music scholarship to Kansas University. He graduated from Kansas as an aeronautical engineer in 1957, while active in Sigma Nu, and was commissioned into the U.S. Navy, where he served for several years and reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander. While in the Navy and stationed in southern California, he met his soul mate and love of his life, Nancy. They married in Los Angeles and in 1957 with kids following soon after.

As his family grew, his true calling emerged, leading him to enroll at Princeton Theological Seminary to be ordained into a life-long service of helping others as a Presbyterian pastor. He led churches in Atlantic Highlands, NJ; Green Bay, WI; and Ft Lauderdale, FL, along with stops at several churches in the Chicago area. He was selflessly committed to serving the Lord and supporting the community through extensive volunteerism and charitable work. He lived his faith in daily life through loving his family and helping others.

Our father was more than just a litany of places, titles, and dates. He was always there for us whether we agreed, disagreed, or agreed to disagree. He was love and laughter in flesh and blood during good times and bad. Armed with a ready smile and bad jokes, he was equally ready to deliver a sermon and take an offering as well as to offer a helping hand, sometimes all at the same time. Laughter was common, even if his jokes weren’t always funny. He told one son that his thumb would turn green and fall off if he didn’t stop sucking his thumb and then used green food coloring to dye the son’s thumb while he was sleeping. He was an adventurous outdoorsman with more confidence than ability, such as having the family camp overnight in a farmer’s pasture only to wake up surrounded by a herd of cattle. He also took his inexperienced sons whitewater canoeing through significant rapids, swamping the canoe with everyone sweeping downstream and the canoe becoming bent in half around a rock. On another trip, he raced down the Grand Canyon trying to catch up to his sons who ran down into the canyon and nearly passed out multiple times on the way back. Luckily, we all survived life’s many adventures and could laugh about it afterwards.

Our Dad was always there, and now to our sorrow, he is not. We loved him dearly. He was a great son, brother, friend, husband, father and leader. We cherished him and our time together. He was the best Dad ever. May you rest in peace and say “hi” to Mom for us.

The memorial for Richard Anderson will be held in Fernandina Beach, Florida on 20 July. Rather than flowers, please consider a donation to a local charity in your area. If you wish to contact the Anderson family, please send mail to PO Box 15097, Fernandina Beach, FL 32034.