“Your brother Terry was a legend”! That was a comment i heard from a young boy that goes to the school where my brother worked. Over 600 people gathered in Fulton, New York last Saturday to mourn his death but more importantly, to celebrate his life. As each person honored and shared memories, a common thread began to emerge. It was, ‘The Transformation of Terry Richardson”.  In his younger days, Terry was a strong, motorcycle driving tough guy who usually called his own shots. In his death, Terry was a strong, motorcycle driving tough guy who had submitted his life to Christ. He started out kind of rough, but he finished incredibly strong. The accident occurred as he rode home with friends from the Christian Motorcycle Association after a community outreach project. That was Terry, he loved to serve God and others, whether that was a child at Lanigan Elementary School or a complete stranger overcome with despair after Hurricane Katrina. We’ll never know all the lives he touched, he never sought recognition. In fact, he donated his organs which the doctor said will help more than 50 people.

My brother was even cool when he was doing one of his ‘corny’ pranks. Last year, while showing my kids around the fields of our old family farm, a strange Sasquatch like sound kept bellowing through the woods all around us. Terry must have ran (& crawled) 5 miles through thick brush to have pulled off that lil’ stunt. He was never one to pass up a prime opportunity to scare someone or to make a lasting impression. The greatest impression he left us was the way in which he lived for God wholeheartedly without coming across as a religious nut. He was the real deal, nothing fancy, he spoke the truth and lived it too. What i’m going to miss most are the times that we were planning for. He had big plans to join us in Ecuador to deliver some motorcycles to Pastors in remote locations who need transportation. Of course i’m going to carry on with the plan, that’s how we honor those who have gone before us, we carry on in their honor & to honor God. “Terry, we’ll try not to cry too long, we know we gotta get back on that bike and ride”.