Gwendolyn Y Richards

Gwendolyn Yvonne (Huggins) Richards, 65, passed away peacefully and surrounded by love on June 23, 2020 in Kansas City, MO, with her husband Ricardo Richards at her side. Born on August 6, 1954 in Kansas City, KS to Levi Huggins and Helen (Scales) Huggins, Gwen grew up in Kansas City, KS where she graduated from Wyandotte High School and attended Eighth Street Baptist Church. Gwen went on to become a secretary of the power plant for Trans World Airline, and worked her way up from secretary to computer programmer at Yellow Freight, where she worked for nearly 30 years. During that time, she returned to school and achieved her goal of being a college graduate by earning a bachelor’s degree in English from Rockhurst University.

Gwen gave her full self to each of the many roles she served in the many lives she touched. She was a poet, a dancer, and a talker. She was a lifelong learner, the ultimate cheerleader, a volunteer and mentor for multiple youth and education programs, and an official advocate for the fight against Alzheimer’s Disease. She was a daughter, a sister, an auntie, and a friend who felt like family to many, but the titles of wife and mother are the ones that gave her the most pride and joy. She loved her husband and daughters “mucho,” and always made sure they felt it unconditionally.

A few years after a successful blind date, Gwen and Rick married on July 31, 1983, living and loving beautifully as a team, “riding together until the wheels fall off.” They raised two daughters, Elisha Richards Gilbert (Atlanta, GA) and Rickeena Richards Holloway (New Haven, CT), in Kansas City, Missouri. They could be found at every dance recital, track meet, basketball game and school event, easily spottable by Gwen’s signature pompoms. Gwen encouraged and expected nothing less than excellence and “refrigerator grades” from her girls and will forever be their biggest hero.

Gwen is survived by her husband of 37 years (Rick Richards), two daughters (Elisha Richards Gilbert and Rickeena Richards Holloway), two sons-in-laws (Terry Gilbert and Terrell Holloway), three grandchildren (Terry Gilbert, Tyrelle Gilbert, Dylan Gilbert), four siblings (Ferrell Huggins, Celia Conway, Venita Huggins, Lee Huggins) and a host of other nieces, nephews, relatives and friends

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