RICHMOND, Leta*

The Arizona Republic, Phoenix, Arizona February 23, 2003 Leta Richmond, died on February 17th in Jacksonville, Florida at age 99. She was born Leta Gennieve Thorp in Kansas City, Kansas in 1904. She graduated from Kansas City Kansas High School (Wyandotte ) in 1922. In 1925 she married Lloyd Richmond, a war hero, and they had three children, two daughters, Virginia and Priscilla and a son, Thomas. During World War II, she became Director of Employee Relations at the General Motors North American Aviation Division in Kansas City. This plant produced the B-25 bomber, famed for its carrier based attack on Tokyo early in the war. Mrs. Richmond was the only woman on the Board of Directors, with the responsibility for keeping 1500 women on the job in around-the-clock shifts. After the war she became Marketing Director for the National School of Aeronautics in Kansas City. During this period she earned several hundred hours of college credit through extension courses at the University of Kansas. In 1959 she moved to Phoenix and lived there until 1997. In the 1970's she was wardrobe mistress for the Dick Van Dyke Show when it was produced in Carefree, Arizona. She is survived by her son, Thomas Richmond, of Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Courtesy of Pat Wilson.