Lucy Lee Richardson

Lucy Lee Richardson, long-time resident of Atlanta, died at the age of 97, on May 8, 2020 at Phoenix of Albany. Graveside funeral services will be held Monday, May 18, 2020 at 11:00 AM at Arlington Memorial Park Cemetery in Sandy Springs, GA. Rev. Tricia Templeton will officiate. Friends are welcome to attend and social distancing will be required.

Daughter of James and Lucille O’Quin Lee, Lucy was born on March 1, 1923, in Magnolia, Mississippi. The family soon moved to Jonestown, in the Mississippi delta, where she was raised with her two sisters, Marjorie and Virginia. She attended Mississippi State College for Women, graduating in 1943. She completed a dietetic internship at Charity Hospital in New Orleans, before moving on to work as a dietician at Jefferson Hillman Hospital in Birmingham. There she met her future husband, A. Cullen Richardson, Jr, MD, son of A. Cullen Sr, and Claude Davis Richardson, of Montezuma, GA. On completion of Cullen’s internship, they were married on July 1, 1946, in Jonestown. After Cullen’s stint in the army, they settled in Atlanta, where Lucy raised four sons, selflessly driving to countless after-school activities, packing the car for trips to Lake Lanier, and tolerating her husband’s many hobbies. With the boys packed away, Lucy returned to school at the University of Georgia, earning a Master’s Degree from the School of Food Service and Dietetics, in (what year). She worked for the next 10 years in Food and Nutrition Services with the Cobb County School System, eventually serving as Assistant Director.

Lucy enjoyed cooking, gardening, mystery novels, and travel, but she excelled at caregiving. She was the main caregiver for her mother, mother-in-law, and sister-in-law during their advancing years, and she made possible her husband’s time-consuming career. After Cullen’s death in 2001, Lucy maintained the family home, and devoted herself to genealogy, tracking the lives of her forebears, the Long’s, Lee’s, White’s and O’Quin’s. She was also an active member of the St. Andrew’s Chapter of All Saints Episcopal Church. Her last five years were spent in Albany, where she passed, on May 8, 2020. Lucy was preceded in death by her husband, Cullen and her son, James Davis Richardson.

Survivors include Lucy’s son A. Cullen Richardson III, MD, his wife Debbie, their daughters Carolyn Thaggard of Birmingham, and Lucy Richardson of Chattanooga, their son Britton Richardson of Athens, and Carolyn’s daughters Kate and Ella; Lucy’s son Charles Richardson, MD of Columbia MD, his wife Anne, their daughters Jane Richardson MD of Baltimore, and Emily Richardson MD, of Charlottesville, and Jane’s daughters Ginny and Alice; and Lucy’s son Lee Richardson of Atlanta.