Richard Perkins, a beloved and original member of the Warheim Park Board that was formed by Hal Warheim in June of 2002 has passed away this year.
The current board and past board members want to recognize Richard for all of the work he did in helping this park become what it is today. He was involved in many aspects of the parks development. As you might infer, a lot of what needed to be done in an ongoing basis was hands on, in the park. Richard was very valuable as someone who had a lot of knowledge of how to fix things. For instance he helped work on the water fountain several times. None of us had any knowledge about how to begin to do that. We always got it working. He also organized a watering program that several of the board members got involved with. Richard was just handy, handier than any of the rest of us. Another time, fairly early on, the board decided to sponsor a garden tour as part of our ongoing need to raise money for the park. Richard and another board member were able to get 11 Belknap neighbors to show their yards for that effort. They were all lovely, but it was a lot more involved than any of us could have imagined.
Richard was a good neighbor to many in our small community. He and his wife Carolyn raised 3 children, during the roughly 45 years they lived in our neighborhood. Carolyn often joined Richard during our workdays at the park. He was a good and active board member. He served on the board for 11 years and continued helping out on workdays for several years after that. We remember and celebrate Richard for all that he did for Warheim Park, as well as his frequent smiles and wry comments.