Kenneth Richards dies

Credit Union stalwart and former permanent secretary Kenneth A. Richards has died.

Richards, 80, died over the weekend at his home in Goodwill.

Over a period spanning forty years, he served as a credit union volunteer in many capacities and later as manager of the Dominica Credit Union League.

In 1983 Richards was awarded the Sisserou Award of Honour, Dominica's second highest award in recognition of his contribution to the development of the Credit Union movement in Dominica.

Richards became active in credit union work in 1956 when he was elected to the supervisory committee of the St. Alphonsus Co-operative Credit Union. In 1958 he was elected to the Board and served as treasurer.

During that same year he became a director of the Credit Union League Southern Chapter; subsequently, he served as director when the north and south chapters combined to form the Dominica Co-operative Credit Union League in 1959.

During that period he held the office of secretary, vice president and president of the society. As a member of the league's board, Richards served as secretary, treasurer, vice president and president.

He proposed field services to credit unions which were adopted in 1969 and from that time on a "fieldsman" has been employed with the league. In 1973 he also proposed the idea of central financing.

In 1960 Richards was elected as a director on WICCS, a regional credit union; the name eventually changed to Caribbean Confederation of Credit Unions (CCCU). He remained in that organization until 1972 when the name was changed to CCCU. He was also part of the team which formulated the CCCU constitution and at its first annual general meeting in 1972 held in Dominica. He became a Director and remained until 1975. The CCCU gave Richards an award in 1982 in recognition of his contribution.

In 1981 Richards was awarded for long and dedicated service to the St. Alphonsus Credit Union (now the Central Co-operative Credit Union).

Aaron Dalrymple, the manager of the Dominica Co-operative Societies League described the late Kenneth A. Richards as "a patriot in the credit union movement, a credit union solider and a credit unionist at heart."