Leaving a Legacy: Richey retires after a lifetime of public service

Wednesday, July 17, 2019
During his retirement open house, Richey took a moment to pose in front a picture of his younger self. One of the first photos ever taken of him as a pilot, he is getting ready to enter the cockpit of his T-38 at Vance Air Force Base in Eden, Oklahoma.

Friday, July 12, 2019, marked the afternoon and evening that a gathering of family, friends, coworkers and peers paid respect and homage to Billy Richey, that left a legacy of good work and deeds that will be hard to fill. The most repeated comment over and over throughout the ceremonies and in some cases a fun roast or two was a simple statement of “you are going to be missed”.

I took the opportunity amongst all the well wisher and asked Billy a question. I asked him what he felt were his most important accomplishment in the last 20 years in his position as Special Liaison to the Military for the Governor. “That is very hard to narrow down” said Richey. He went on to say “I would have to say the number one was my involvement in the establishment of the training range, the ongoing liaison with MHAFB and my interactions with the state officials and those at Washington DC”. “To walk into a room in DC and have the Secretary of the Air Force know you by name was a great feeling of accomplishment. For the full story, pick up a copy of the Mountain Home News or click on this link to subscribe to the newspaper's online edition.

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