Charles E. Richardson

Charles E. Richardson (November 26, 1934 – July 20, 2009) was a publisher of the Rock Springs Daily Rocket-Miner in Rock Springs, Wyoming. He worked in his family newspaper business throughout his youth before attending the University of Wyoming at Laramie and entering the United States Army. In 1960, he was appointed general manager of the Daily Rocket-Miner; fourteen years later, he was elevated to publisher and president of the newspaper board of directors. Richardson retired as publisher in 2000 but continued as the corporate president until his death.^[1]

Richardson was born in Newcastle in Weston County in northeastern Wyoming to David G. Richardson (1902–1974)^[2] and the former Margaret Edwards (1904–1997).^[2] In 1937, the senior Richardson purchased the Rocket newspaper and moved his family to Rock Springs in southwestern Wyoming. Charles Richardson resided in Rock Springs until 2005, when he moved to Cheyenne but spent winters at another home in Scottsdale, Arizona.^[3]

As a youth, Richardson worked on the ground floor of the family newspaper business. An athlete, he was named to the first ever Wyoming All-State football team. In 1952, he graduated from Rock Springs High School and then studied accounting at the University of Wyoming, where he was a member of Kappa Sigma social fraternity. After graduation from UW in 1956, Richardson was commissioned a second lieutenant in the United States Army, where he served at, among other locations, Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis, Indiana. He rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel and received, among other awards, the Legion of Merit, the Meritorious Service Medal, a Marksman Medal for mastery of the M-1 rifle, Carbine and .45 caliber pistol, and the Sharpshooter Medal for his skill with a .38 caliber pistol.^[4]

Upon his father’s death in 1974, he was named Daily Rocket-Miner publisher and president of the newspaper board of directors. He received the "Heinsohn Award for Excellence in Newspapering." After he retired as publisher, Richardson remained corporation president until his death. During his tenure at the newspaper, he was also a civic leader who supported establishment of a new Sweetwater County hospital and the expansion of Western Wyoming Community College. The newspaper adapted modern technology under Richardson’s tenure, and in 1974 newspaper offices were expanded to a second floor at the newspaper location at 215 D Street. From 1970-1974, he also owned and managed radio station KVRS in Rock Springs.^[3]

Richardson served on the board of the Rock Springs Chamber of Commerce and the United Way of Sweetwater County. He was president of the Wyoming Broadcasting Company for three decades and served on the board of another newspaper, the Laramie Boomerang in Laramie. He was a board member and past president of the Wyoming Press Association. The group made him a lifetime member in 1999. He was a director of the former First Security Bank in Rock Springs. He was appointed by Democratic Governor Michael J. Sullivan to a seat on the Wyoming Unemployment Insurance Commission. He also served on the Wyoming Employment Security Commission and was active in the UW Cowboy Joe Booster Club, the UW Aumni Association, the Masonic lodge and its companion organization, the Shriners.^[3]

Richardson died in a hospice in Cheyenne. On November 16, 1974, he wed his second wife, the former Faye Spires Fries. He was further survived by two sons, Dr. Charles Alan Richardson (born ca. 1959) of Chandler, Arizona, and James H. Richardson (born 1964) and wife, Kimberly, of Rock Springs; three daughters, Elaine A. Willis and husband, Jon Willis of Mt. Juliet near Nashville, Tennessee, Shannon Fermelia and husband, Dr. Rick Fermelia, of Cheyenne, and Carla Howard and husband, Dr. Rick Howard, of Gilbert, Arizona; one sister, Patricia R. Guthrie of Laramie, and twelve grandchildren.^[3]

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