Joe David Richmond: In 1952, in McAlester, Okla., Frances Kathrine Lucas Richmond and the Rev. Joe Paul Richmond welcomed their firstborn, David, the Golden Child, the brilliant, gay, brutally honest son-of-a preacher-man. (Full disclosure: David wrote this. Like you didn’t already know.)
David loved being smart. In the third grade he got called into the principal’s office where his parents were waiting for his teacher to show them his remarkable scores on an IQ test. Always being the smartest kid in the room was not a recipe for popularity, but it did make for one smug sissy boy. In 1990, he won $44,000 on Wheel of Fortune.
Being a preacher’s kid is a story in itself, but a religious upbringing taught David valuable life lessons, expanded his deep love of music and introduced him to the beauty of Elizabethan English: “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” In 1970 he was awarded a scholarship to Oklahoma Baptist University.
David loved being gay. In 1975, gay men weren’t expected to go to church, watch football, join the military, get married or have kids. It was a perfect world. Southwestern Bell Yellow Pages was under fire from EEOC to eliminate gender-based jobs, and it turns out gay boys can type and file and gossip along with the best women workers. So David basically got hired because he was gay. He retired 37 years later.
David loved working out. In 1976 a confluence of events — Bruce Jenner’s decathlon gold, the opening of Nautilus Fitness Centers and a little bodybuilder named Herb — got him into the gym. Muscles improved his social life dramatically.
When David told people what he was looking for in a lover, they accused him of wanting a handsome prince on a white horse, to, which he responded, “I keep a bale of hay on the patio.” In 1982 he found his prince, Bil Buchanan. Their relationship had two titles: One of the Great Romances, and Love at First Grope. Their 13 years together were fairytale magic.
David found love again, with the fascinating, multi-talented John Seawright. They saw cliff dwellings in New Mexico and naked statues in Italy. They shared two wonder-filled years.
David also loved wild shoes, crazy earrings, the Texas State Fair, Christmas, summer, anything purple and beer.
In addition to his parents and lovers, David was predeceased by his sister, Paula Kay Richmond Ballard Honeycutt, and his niece, Mary Kathryn Kidwell Crocker Sanchez.
He is survived by his beloved baby sister, Martha Fay Richmond Kidwell, and her children Michelle Rene Kidwell and Joe Ross Kidwell and Joe Ross’ wife, Jessica Kidwell, and a host of extended family and dear friends.
In the height of the AIDS crisis, David found a mantra that helped him cope: The Dead Ones Is the Lucky Ones. And now David, the Golden Child, is one of the Lucky Ones.
