Our First Scoutmaster, 1929

In fact it is in 1929, as a Rotary Club member, and a policeman that Mr. Richards agrees to head up Troop 3, the third Boy Scout Troop in Arcadia. He does not have any boys in the troop, but with his military background, he is well suited in this role. He is Scoutmaster from September 26, 1929 when the troop is founded until the end of 1931.

In 1930 is promoted in the Police Department to Chief of Police and unfortunately, Amie divorces her husband and moves with the two daughters to her brother’s home. Then on April 12, 1932, Louis marries Vivian Inez Richardson in a ceremony held in Arcadia. From this marriage, a son is born in 1933, Gerald “Jerry” Richards (Note; an attorney in Hercules, CA in 2013).

Mr. Richards would continue as Police Chief until 1935 when he resigns and works for Anita Baldwin (daughter of famed “Lucky Baldwin”) for a while. This year would also see him be divorced from Vivian in Las Vegas, NV and apply for a marriage license to Lois Kinkade of Monrovia, as well.

According to his son, Jerry:

He left Arcadia in 1935 or so, for some place in South America, I believe it was Brazil. Nelson Rockefeller had established a US Intelligence Organization in Brazil and Argentina to get information about Nazi Activities. Brazil is a Portuguese speaking country and Argentina is a Spanish speaking country. He already knew the latter language and learned the former on the job.

My dad originally went to Iran in 1943 on SECRET ORDERS for the US Corps of Engineers to organize and act as Foreman for the construction of the docks and piers on the coast of Iran so the USA could land supplies for Russia. After that was in hand, he was put in charge of the work of building a railroad across Iran to connect with a railroad in Russia. When the war ended he was employed by an Iranian company to act as a Ground Water Engineer (he with an eighth grade education). The company got a contract with US to drill water wells, cap them, install pumps and diesel engines to have them pump all the time and supply water. The water table was 2000 feet and further down but there was a lot of water to tap. Dad was a very gifted linguist and could learn languages very quickly and speak them with very little accent. I stayed with him for a little over a year while attending a mission high school to get the prerequisites for college. He left there in June 1953 for Iraq where, I learned later, he was employed by the US State Department to supervise the construction of a new US Embassy complex. He was fluent in Pharisee as well as two or three dialects of Arabic.

At age 47 while in Tehran Iran, Louis Jacquelyn Richards married 42 year old Janina Wanda Wilczek, a citizen of Lwow, Poland, on October 27, 1949 both whom were living in Tehran, Iran at the time. The American Vice Consul, John Stutesman, Jr. confirmed that the marriage was performed at the American Presbyterian Church in Tehran, Iran by the Reverend John Elder.

About a year after I left Iran, he stopped corresponding with me and I heard nothing from him until my eldest sister, Margaret, got a letter from him in Greece. He was quite ill, having been in living in Somalia for a number of years. He was suffering from kidney failure and his heart was not strong enough to support an operation. Margaret brought him back with her to San Bernardino. After a few months he entered a Veterans Hospital where he died later in 1976. I visited him before he went into the hospital.

After leading a very exciting life for his country, this patriot passed away and is buried in Rialto, California.