Sue Wiley Richards

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Sue Wiley Richards
April 8, 1910 - November 26, 2008
HARLINGEN, TX. - Susie Mae Wiley Richards, a local pioneer who came to the Valley in a covered wagon in 1910, passed away November 26, 2008 in a Valley nursing home at the age of 98.
Sue, the widow of John Wallace Richards, one of the founders of Hygeia Dairy, is survived by her daughter, Sandy Richards, son, John Evan Richards (Allyce Pletcher Bullock), and grandson, David Richards and her nieces and nephews Nick Nichols (Janet), Dutch Richards (Carl) and Lee Richards (Laurie), all of Harlingen, Mary Heptig of Fort Worth, Joy Vandiver of Lindale, Texas, Howard Wiley (Stephanie) of Weslaco, Jon Wiley of Texas, and Cousin Ed Drake (Donda) of Dallas as well as numerous great nieces and nephews living throughout the Valley and the State.
Sue, the daughter of Susie Lottspeed Howard Wiley and Mansel Thomas Wiley, was born in Hayes City Texas in 1910. She came to the Valley as in infant, along with her three older siblings. They arrived here in a covered wagon later that year when her father moved the family to Mission Texas to become a school teacher there. The family later moved to La Feria where Sue grew up and graduated from high school. She met John Richards and married him on October 17, 1937. They started their family in 1944 with Johnnie and later grew to two with Sandy in 1949.
Sue and John lived in Harlingen until 1955 when they moved to Dallas, but they kept strong ties with their friends and family in the Valley. With the George Beck family, in 1949, they built Sandy Retreat, the first vacation home on Padre Island. At that time, Sandy Retreat was reachable only by ferry, but, after the causeway was built, the Richards and Becks expanded the home into Sandy Retreat Hotel, the first modern hotel on the Island since the great hurricane of 1933. Sue and John returned to the Valley in 1960 where they ran Sandy Retreat until 1964. Sue later went to work at Flynn Investment. She was widowed in 1991.
In her later years, Sue loved to read and to paint, especially scenes of Valley and Padre Island. She also enjoyed taking Bible classes at the First United Methodist Church in Harlingen where she and John had been long time members. She was the last survivor of 5 siblings and will be greatly missed by her son, daughter, grandson and nieces and nephews.
Visitation with the family present will be held on Sunday, November 30, 2008 from 5 to 7:30 p.m. at Buck Ashcraft Funeral Home.
Graveside services will be held at Mont Meta Mausoleum Chapel in San Benito, Texas at 10:00 a.m. on Monday December 1, 2008, followed by a luncheon reception in the Pletcher Parlor of the First United Methodist Church, 321 E Harrison in Harlingen.
You are invited to sign the online guestbook or leave a condolence at www.buck-ashcraft.com.
Arrangements are under the direction of Buck Ashcraft Funeral Home.
Sign the guestbook at: http://legacy.com/ValleyStar/Obituaries.asp.
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