Truckin' on the Western Branch

Bill Richardson Bill Richardson spent his early days on his Uncle Charlie Russell’s farm in what is now Harbour View. His mother, Charlotte, was Russell’s sister. One of his neighbors, Raleigh Old Green, would later develop Raleigh Place in Western Branch.

Family and family history are important for its continuity. My family has been here since 1647.

I grew up with two brothers, Ira James III and Rennie, and a sister, Katherine Shores. We all spent a whole lot of time on the creek. I went to Florence Bowser School for second and third grades. There were lots of fights in the woods where the wild boars also ran.

In 1972 we moved to Green Meadow Point to the house I live in now. Green Meadow Point seemed like a paradise—there were neighbors, streets to ride a bike on, a school bus, and some paved roads. You could walk down a lane to a blacktop road to catch the school bus. I was happy—on the farm you couldn’t run or ride a bike down a street. Our social life centered on the pool in Green Meadow Point. Sports were always a big thing in our family. My father, Ira Richardson, played football for Old Dominion in 1933. He played a wide-awake game at guard—at 140 pounds—but broke his leg and had a limp for the rest of his life. I played Little League sports in Churchland and know my coaches, Charlie Sealey and Billy Skeeter, had a big impact on my life. Bill Hinton, Jimmy Williams, and Butch Resolute were other major players in Churchland sports.

Bill Richardson. Image by Sheally

I played tennis in high school and at Randolph-Macon. Then I coached tennis at Western Branch from 2005 to 2008, and by the third year, the team had won back-to-back regional titles.

I came out of Randolph-Macon College as a biology major, wanting to be a veterinarian. But, just for practice, I interviewed with a stock brokerage firm who was seeking athletes for their competitiveness. I got sold on the idea of being stockbroker.

After college I married and moved to Green Acres. My parents wanted to sell the old house and I bought it in 1993.

Churchland was a farming community. That is its legacy. My father told me about boats that used to take produce to the ships in the Norfolk harbor—flat-bottomed boats called “trucks.” Refrigerated transportation took truck farming out, and my family, like others, lost their land in the Depression. The Matthews family owns the property now. Martin Family Deborah Martin knows when her parents and her aunt and uncle— the Fletchers—get together, the stories about Churchland and Western Branch will roll on.

Left to right: Anita Forbes Martin, Deborah Martin, (standing) Floyd Buddy Martin, Charlotte Martin Fletcher, and Freddy Fletcher. Image by Sheally

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