On June 9, 2022 Richard Boushell’s soul left this earth for his heavenly home. Richard loved living in his Olde Towne neighborhood of Portsmouth, Virginia most all of his life except for his time in the US Army where he proudly served his country. Richard was an only child to his parents Richard (Sr) and Dorothy Boushell (using the French pronunciation Boushaw~ll, Jr.).
Richard absolutely loved the restaurants of Portsmouth from pizza to seafood to meat loaf He particularly liked the restaurants of High Street
and Court street where he met friends and knew the chefs and restauranteers personally. There was particularly the early morning breakfast bunch and liked a “toddy” before dinner .
He was a great advocate for Portsmouth and the good restaurants there . Richard also enjoyed every Happy Horror Picture Show Club event at the NARO THEATRE. .The HO Model trains were an obsession of his. When you visited his home in his mid life – he made no apology that trains came first – and you must be very careful when you were walking through his rooms not to step on a track or derail one of the approximate 500 train cars. And they all were hooked up in running condition. As he got older and moved to smaller spaces they had to be sadly packed away. He always thought he would see them run again in a private collection or setting somewhere …Richard was born on April 17, 1937, and sadly many of his buddies passed before him and his railroad crowd were many of these old buddies . Also his pride and joy was his membership and friends at his United Church of Christ church at 5900 Portsmouth Boulevard, Portsmouth, Virginia 23702 He always enjoyed the folks who dropped in to see him-and loved getting the peanut butter or chocolate or the occasional hot pepperoni pizza from Pizza Hut or Rita’s.
Phil Jones or Martin Swain would always make sure they drove him to church when he was able to attend also his friend David Renfro who was his teacher and helped him continue to have a phone and know how to use it . Thanks also goes to his minister, Pastor Lucy Fleming . Thanks to Portsmouth Rehabilitation Facility on London Boulevard for offering and facilitating Richards “comfort care “ and special thanks to nurse Gwendolyn Washington during those comfort days. Gwen was wonderful at keeping updates flowing on Richards behalf the last couple of weeks and for being sure he was comfortable and clean and presentable for visiting drop in friends. She did many helpful things that surely were not in her job description .
Please know that the day before he passed, he communicated with his pastor and his long time friend Mary Pizza. Mary was also a long-time resident of OldeTowne and when Richard was in and out of hospital for years she became his business confidente’ and when the time came she voluntarily took care of nursing home accommodations, etc for the last 5 years.
Richard was a cantankerous old coot in his later years but had a heart of gold.
A going home service will be celebrated at a later time. Please email normalivesay21@gmail.com for more information.