I was born on June 26, 1937 in Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, DC. My parents, Lois Price Richardson and Robert Franklin Richardson, lived in Arlington, VA. My sister and only sibling, Addie Ann Richardson, was born on May 6, 1939, also in Georgetown University Hospital.
My earliest memories are of the apartment building in Arlington where my mother, sister, and I lived during the years of World War II while my father was away in the US Army. He was an officer in the Signal Corps. We lived across the street from the fire department and became accustomed to the blast of the siren at all hours of the day and night. It is fortunate that we lived so close to the fire department because one morning while my mother was visiting neighbors my sister set the apartment on fire while playing with the gas stove. Little damage was done, though I am certain that my mother was thoroughly embarrassed.
My father was a native Virginian. Branches of his family could be traced back to the early colonial times. His father, Robert Coleman Richardson, after whom I was named, owned a general store in a small rural village, Penola, VA. My father attended Roanoke College for two years during the Great Depression. When his mother became seriously ill, he left college because of the increased family expenses. He became interested in electricity and began work as a 'lineman' for the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company in Richmond, VA.
My mother's family was from North Carolina. She was an orphan, practically from birth, and was shuttled among relatives in North Carolina. As was a common practice in the rural South, she was taught at home by various aunts. She attended only one year of public school before going off to college. The one year of high school was in Reidsville, NC in 1918. She attended various colleges - Gulf Park College, the University of Alabama, the University of Mississippi, and the University of Virginia. She was one of the first women to attend the latter and obtained a Master's Degree in History there. During her college career she was brought in to the large and warm family of Ernest H. Mathewson in Richmond, and thus gained three brothers and two sisters. The Mathewsons were known by my sister and me as our other grandparents during our youth.
My parents met in Richmond and were married there in 1935. Shortly thereafter, my father was transferred by the telephone company to their branch in Washington, DC. As an army reservist my father was called to active duty during World War II and again during the Korean War. During his service for the latter he was assigned to the Pentagon so that it did not become necessary for him to leave home. During his second tour of duty with the army he took advantage of the educational benefits associated with the 'G.I. Bill of Rights' to finish college. He graduated from the University of Maryland in 1955.