Charles Philip Richards, Sr.

Charles Philip Richards, Sr. of Atlanta, died Sunday, January 01, 2006. He was 88. Phil Richards was born February 8, 1917 in his family home on Spring Street.  Mr. Richards attended Boys High and was chosen for Coach Shorty Doyle?s All Star football team.  He received a scholarship to the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he was a Phi Kappa Phi and Honors graduate.  A premier offensive and defensive guard, he played in Tech?s winning 1940 Orange Bowl game.  Mr. Richards served in World War II as a Captain in the Army?s 705th Coast Artillery Antiaircraft Battery.  After the war, Mr. Richards founded ABCO Builders, Inc., one of Atlanta?s oldest construction companies, and served as President of the Georgia Branch of the Associated General Contractors of America.  He was a member of the Boy Scouts of America, a Mason, a former member of Druid Hills Baptist Church, a founding member and deacon at Clairmont Hills Baptist Church, an armchair historian and genealogist, and a world traveler. Mr. Richards is survived by his wife of 54 years, Gertrude Spratt Richards; his sister, Lucy Richards Perkerson; his sister-in-law, Irmeth Coleman Richards, wife of his brother, the late William L. Richards; his brother, Robert H. Richards; his son and daughter-in-law, Charles P. Richards, Jr. and Valerie Muir Richards; his daughter and son-in-law, Catherine Richards Ethridge and Douglas Ethridge, Jr.; his daughters, Alice Richards and Martha Richards; and four grandchildren, Amy Nicole Ethridge, and Sarah, William and PFC Philip Richards, who is currently serving in the Army in Iraq.  Funeral services will be held on Wednesday, January 4, at 2:00 pm at Clairmont Hills Baptist Church.  Rev. Fred Pitts and Rev. Larry Burgess will officiate.  Interment will be at Floral Hills Memory Gardens.  In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Clairmont Hills Baptist Church, 1995 Clairmont Road, Decatur, GA 30033 or to the Georgia Tech Foundation.  The family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday evening at A. S. Turner & Sons.