Servant of the Lord Reverend Richard Lutes “Dick” Righter, 88, father of Ohio Academy of Family Physicians Past President Elizabeth L. Righter, MD, born April 10, 1932, in Stockton, CA, died November 14, in Dayton, OH.
While earning his business degree at University of California, Dick was a nationally ranked javelin thrower, rush chairman of his fraternity, and involved in the Student Senate. While earning his MBA, he attended a Christian retreat without the intent to encounter the message of Jesus. He did and it changed the trajectory of his life. He met his wife, Willie. They were married for 57 years. Dick earned his M. Div. at San Francisco Theological Seminary.
Dick and Willie wanted to do mission work in Brazil, but the call came to go to Philadelphia, PA. In the early 1960’s the Presbytery owned a grand church with an exclusively white membership in African American, west Philadelphia. Dick was tasked with integrating that church. He did so by knocking on doors and offering a place of faith that included equality of governance.
In 1968 Dick was invited to found a church with a social action mandate. Dick, Willie, and their small daughters, Lisa and Karen, moved to Dayton, OH. The Congregation for Reconciliation with its open and democratic form, was able to make gains for justice on diverse economic, environmental and racial issues. The Congregation spearheaded an international boycott of Gulf Oil to gain Angola its independence.
Dick took a sabbatical to England and completed his doctorate in Economics and Theology from Antioch’s University Without Walls. He was a first co-president of the Leaders for Equality in Dayton (LEAD), a grassroots, faith-based community organization.
At 85 Dick was still an All-American javelin thrower and on the coaching roster of Northwest Track Club. Nevertheless, Dick’s heart and comfort were restored in the trout streams of the west’s high country. Every summer he took his family to meet up with his brother, Bob. The two men maintained a lifetime of fishing, backpacking trips, and love.
He is preceded in death by his wife, Wilma (Wuthrich) Righter; his father, C.E. Righter; and mother, Margaret (Willms) Righter. He is survived by his brother, Robert Righter and sister-in-law, Sherry Smith of Jackson Hole, WY; his daughter, Elisabeth Righter; son-in-law, Stephen Kramer; grandson, Benjamin Kramer; his daughter, Karen Righter Geiger and son-in-law, Raymond Geiger; and his partner, Paula Ewers, all of Dayton, OH.
A celebration of his life will be planned after the pandemic.
If friends wish to honor Dick, please contribute to the Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, the Dayton Art Institute, the Monthly Review Foundation, College Hill Presbyterian Church, or a cause of your choice. Further information is available online.
The OAFP has made a memorial gift in his memory to the OAFP Foundation.