Richard Hewetson

1930 - 2025

Richard Hewetson
03/31/1930 - 07/19/2025
On July 19, 2025, I, Richard Walton (Dick) Hewetson died by doctor-assisted suicide at Brookdale Senior Living in San Jose, CA,. surrounded by family and friends. I had a wonderful life but was discouraged with the state of the world and the U.S.A. At the age of 95, I was ready to go.
Born in a suburb of Chicago on March 31, 1930, I grew up in a world where homosexuality was considered illegal, immoral, and an illness.
For the first 42 Years of my life, I did everything to appear normal. Two outstanding examples: From the ages of 16 to 20 I had a steady girlfriend, even though I was never in love with her.
Eventually I chose the Episcopal priesthood as a career. As an Episcopal clergyman, I thought I would be accepted as an unmarried man.
At the age of 42 I became involved in the budding gay rights movement. I emerged from the closet ("ripping the door off the hinges", according to a friend). I was instrumental in getting a gay rights ordinance passed in St. Paul, MN in 1977. Because a lesbian Carla Messman and I were active members, Minnesota state employees had the first union contract protection for LGBTQ+ employees in the nation.
I helped my partner David Irwin (and avid reader and book collector) in establishing Quatrefoil Library. Opening to the public in February 1986, it is one of the largest LGBTQ+ lending libraries in the country, and it has become the de facto LGBTQ+ Center for the Twin Cities.
We soon reached the conclusion that the greatest enemy of LGBTQ+ people was religion.
In 1978 David and I joined the Freedom From Religion Foundation, an organization that upholds the separation of church and state.
I continued a life of activism including mental health issues, women's rights, LGBTQ+ rights and the separation of state and church.
At the age of 80, I met the love of my life "John" a Vietnamese refugee. I am also survived by my beloved niece and nephew, Ron and Kim Spawn.
Please remember the good times we had together.
Donations to Freedom From Religion Foundation and Quatrefoil Library.