Birth date: May 6, 1947 Death date: Mar 28, 2023
Richard Stokley Roberts, Jr. Palmetto, FL – Richard Stokley Roberts, Jr., 75, passed away after a long illness on March 28th, 2023. Richard was born May 6th 1947 in Richmond, Virginia. The son of R. Stokley Roberts, Sr. and Alma G Read Obituary
He called me Willy. I called him Ratch. I cried and I cried when I learned of my longtime friend’s passing. Ratch and I started our master degrees together at Thunderbird Graduate School of Internal Management in the Fall of 1969 graduating in December 1970 from this wonderful school then located in Glendale, Arizona. Though I was single, each weekend we met at his married quarters (baby Michelle was there) and then proceeded to celebrate having completed another week of success in international education. And I might add we DID celebrate! We were well known at a couple of bars. Even his dog Paxton that lived them knew when it was celebration time. Following graduation, we just needed one more chance to celebrate so Ratch invited me to join him and his family in Roanoke, VA for Christmas and New Years. And rest assured, once again we did celebrated in style. I then reported to my new job with Citibank and Ratch soon joined Seagrams. Over the past 53 years we stayed in touch and reunited when he moved to Connecticut where my family and I lived. There we finally met the love of his life Patricia. And we met also his two Jack Russell terriers. I am so thankful that we had another moment in time to catch up via phone recently. Ratch would keep me up to date on his 3 loves namely Patricia, Michelle, Krista and families. My wife, Ana, and I send our biggest hugs to each of you. And to my dear friend, Ratch, I say THANK YOU for your friendship and here’s to one last CHEERS.
