Richard Anthony Wason

The family of Richard Anthony Wason invites you to celebrate his life and his eternal story. The first chapter begins in Massachusetts on May 30, 1972 in Hyde Park. The first-born son of Leroy and Elenia Wason, Rich was everything his parents could ask for in a son and brother, always keeping their best interests at heart. He became a big brother at the age of eight and his brother Brian remembers him as a protector, always having his back especially given the fact that Brian was so mischievous. Richard dedicated his free time to children in the community coaching the neighborhood basketball league as well as tennis. As a family, they traveled to Canada often and those trips created everlasting memories allowing them to spend time with their younger cousin and aunt. Richard loved his aunt's cooking and each time they were in Canada looked forward to the cookout his aunt and mom would host.
The pages filled with friendships are too numerous to count, but as you scan the sentences, you'd see that as a friend Rich is often described as life of the party, a good guy with a beautiful spirit, a solid guy that was worthy of the admiration and respect he was so often given. Rich was an honest friend, and from time to time had no problem sharing sensitive truths that might cut right to the matter, but he was often toughest on those he believed in the most.
When you turn the pages through the chapter on education, you will see in bold letters that Rich attended the nations very first public high school, the illustrious Boston Latin High School. Class of 1991, he wore the royal purple and white colors on his back and fitted caps, forever devoted to his BLS wolfpack. He went on to major in Hospitality and Tourism with a focus on Hotel/Restaurant management at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey. And although he did not get a formal degree, as Rich progressed through his eventual chosen field of insurance, he took every certification course and immersion training he could to hone his knowledge so he could help as many people as possible.
The chapters on work have lots of twists and turns for Rich who started working as a young teenager doing everything from selling exotic rugs, to being a teller at a bank, to setting up cable and working at a local sports store. His first job as a provider for his family was with Sylvan Prometric traveling as an events coordinator. He worked in the same capacity at Arbitron, then to Mercy Hospital in Baltimore as an environmental services manager. He began to dive into insurance sales with Senior Life while also working the night shift in management for Target warehouse. Once he moved to Georgia he worked At State Farm, AAA, started working as a freelance agent helping Postal Workers and teachers with retirement planning, and finally as a remote customer care agent with Grange Integrity Insurance. Every career move and opportunity chosen was executed with his family in mind, and his desire to do more and be more to them and for them.
There's a community hero chapter in this story that starts with the principles of leadership and empowerment learned in Boston's Project REACH. With a passion for helping young people, he continued coaching youth basketball after moving to Maryland. He was a Trustee and the co-leader of the married and engaged couple's ministry during his time as a member of Mt. Calvary AME church. Rich performed many community missions with the church, but often on his own, he'd pull up in a van with wife and family in tow to spoon out hot soup or hand out food, clothing and toiletries to those in need. Rich was a "see a need, solve a need" person. It didn't matter the size of the issue, Rich was going to try to find a solution.
Rich as a main character is a devoted Boston team fanatic! He will break the sound barrier screaming for his Celtics, Red Socks, Bruins, and Patriots. Rich is as known for wearing sweater vests, suits and suspenders with dress shoes and listening to conservative radio as he is for rocking classic adidas track suits and shell toes, or colorful polo sweats and bopping to old-school rap or crooning the lyrics to a Bob Marley song. Rich was multi-layered! He loved golf, a good cigar, bird-watching, collecting unique coins, and had begun collecting guns. His latest obsession was all things high-school and college wrestling and cheering for his son Joshua's wrestling team.
No story is complete without a little splash of romance. Rich met Jocelyn in 1996 while she was in graduate school at Simmons College and he was working in IT in the school's sociology department. The two married December 24, 1998 recently celebrating their 26th wedding anniversary. She was his "boo" and he was her "bubba". Rich was a dedicated and loyal husband who was happiest most when he could make his wife laugh and didn't mind bragging to anyone about how proud he was of her. He didn't mind being her personal chauffer on the weekends back and forth to work, the two would dream and plan on quiet drives away from the busyness of being parents and caregivers.
Perhaps the most vital chapters and a peek into the foreshadowing of this never-ending story, are the words that jump off the page in the form of his three sons Justin, Jacob, and Joshua. It was Rich's complete honor to be present, nurturing and guiding, disciplining and loving his sons. He poured into them the belief that nothing was impossible and that greater was waiting for them. He'd send them countless texts and videos with encouragement and ideas, but more importantly Rich was there for hearty hugs and to be the loudest one in the room cheering for them.
On Tuesday February 18, 2025, Rich's physical presence in his earthly story took on a new story line. However, this is not the end of his story. With his family around him, the notes and writing tools were transferred to us. It was Rich's desire to leave a legacy, to make a lasting impact on his family, community and the world and he has done just that.
He was loved by his father whom he'd been caring for until he preceded him in death, and he is deeply loved and survived by his mother Elenia Wason, his brother Brian and Sister-in-law Charice Wason, His mother-in-law Patricia Stokes, Sister-in-law Lisa McNeill, brother-in-law Michael Stokes, loving and devoted wife Jocelyn, and their children Justin, Jacob, and Joshua, Justin's long-time mate Angel and his grandog Patience, as well as nieces, nephews, cousins and a host of friends!
A Memorial Service will be held at 1:00 PM on Saturday, March 15, 2025, in the Lawrenceville Chapel of Tim Stewart Funeral Home with Rev. Veronica Lockett officiating. The family will receive friends one hour prior to the service. In lieu of flower donations we'd love for family and friends to make donations to causes that were near and dear to Rich Wason, The Grayson Take Down Club: the non-profit booster club that supports his son Joshua's Grayson High School Wrestling team, with a purpose to promote the academic and athletic excellence of the team members by fundraising, fostering school spirit, and engaging the community to ensure a positive environment for our student-athletes, a strong foundation of sportsmanship and access to quality athletic experiences; https://buy.stripe.com and to https://secure.givelively.org/donate/black-heart-association. Arrangements by Tim Stewart Funeral Home Lawrenceville, 300 Simonton Road SW, Lawrenceville, Georgia 30046. 770-962-3100. Please sign the online guest registry at www.stewartfh.com.