We have decided to dedicate a grove of new trees in honor of our fallen brothers over the years.

Here is the URL to our grove page. http://www.treesforlife.org.uk/memorial/saint_andrews.html

The grove is sponsored by Trees for Life, a non-profit group out of Forres, Scotland who are dedicated to restoring the Great Caledonian Forest to a target area of 600 square miles in the Scottish Highlands.  Trees for Life has planted over 750,000 trees since 1989.  Native plants and trees are grown by the group from seed and planted with the help of volunteers from across the globe during 42 work weeks.

Flowers of the Forest

James C Richey - March 12, 1931 – 18 June, 2009

Jim was born and raised in Ripon, California, the third child of Isaac and Caroline Richey.  He is preceded in death by his brother, Paul, and sister, Bernita.  He passed away peacefully at home, just as he wanted.  Jim loved life and especially loved to serve others.

Jim’s call to a life of service came early and was spurred by his deep-seated love of his country.  Jim joined the United States Air Force in 1951 and served as a military policeman.  When his enlistment period ended he briefly considered a career as a highway patrolman in Idaho, but interestingly, it was an Idaho highway patrolman who spoke with Jim and encouraged him to stay with the Air Force and make it a career.  Jim often spoke of that moment of encouragement as a turning point in his life since it steered him on a pathway that would lead him to the door of Joan Carlos Stone, his future wife.   

Jim took the patrolman’s advice and spent 20 years in the Air Force.  He rose to the rank of technical sergeant and honed his gifted mechanical skills in aircraft maintenance.  Many supervisors recognized his passion for the Air Force and his leadership abilities, and in 1958 he was recognized with an opportunity to attend Officer Candidate School where he was commissioned a second lieutenant.  Jim remained in the aircraft maintenance field and attained the rank of major before his retirement in March of 1971.  After his retirement, Jim settled in Sacramento and began a second career in the real estate appraisal field with Sacramento Savings and Loan.  He finally retired in 1991, but we all know that Jim never retired—he had miles to go and many more people to serve.

Along with the United States Air Force, the Free Masons focused Jim’s life of service.  Jim became a Mason during his first term in the Air Force at Mountain Home AFB, Idaho.  His travels in the Air Force took him around the world and he never failed to visit the lodge wherever he landed.  During his tour at Hickam AFB, Hawaii, Jim took on the persona of “Jimbell” and served in the Shriner’s Aloha Clown Corps.  Jimbell spent many hours at the Honolulu Unit Shriner’s Hospital for Crippled Children and often times took his son, Philip, in full clown attire to visit the sick children.  When Jim retired from the Air Force he became even more deeply involved in the Masonic organization.  He became a guiding light for youngsters in DeMolay, Jobs Daughters and Rainbow Girls.  He was honored to be a Past Master of the Free and Accepted Masons, Oak Plains Lodge #789 and an active life-member of Scottish Rite.  Jim also took pride in his affiliation with the Robert the Bruce Association, Royal Order of Scotland, and the St. Andrews Society.

Jim will be remembered as a man of great heart—a man who truly loved his family and his friends.  Along with the many friends he gained during his time in the Air Force and serving as a Mason, he will be dearly missed by his beloved wife of 53 years, Joan, his daughter and son-in-law, Diann and Terry McCarthy of Atlanta, his daughter and son-in-law, Nancy and Len Gray, of Sacramento, and his son and daughter-in-law, Philip and Michelle Richey, of Sacramento.  His four grandchildren, Katie McCarthy of Chicago, Brian McCarthy of Chicago, Tim Richey of Sacramento and Tom Richey of Sacramento, will also miss him along with his sister-in-law, Floy Hall, of Denair and brother-in-law, John Stone, of Bakersfield, and his wife, Rosa.   

Jim was always the first to offer assistance and his tenacity and perseverance served as guidepost to friends and family members, alike.  We are all lucky to have known and loved Jim Richey.

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George W. Burns - Dec. 14, 1925 to Dec. 11, 2008

A proud U.S. Army veteran born in Brooklyn, NY, passed away in Sacramento, CA at age 82. Beloved husband of Fern Nichol-Burns of Sacramento, he was the loving father of Elaine, Arthur, and Donald and stepchildren Gregory, Troy, and Gretchen.  He had ten grandchildren.   Memorial services were held on Sunday, Feb. 1st, 3:00 PM at Trinity Episcopal Church, 2620 Capitol Ave.

Susan Wilson recalled that she and Bill knew George from Trinity Cathedral where he was an active member for many years.  He participated in the Cathedral Choir with his wife, (she is known as Esther at Trinity), which toured in England several times.  He was also a member of their Seafarers group, a couples group, which has monthly social activities.  For many years he worked as a substitute teacher in the area.  He had Alzheimer’s. 

Esther told me that he was a high school teacher and got his masters from NYU.  When he retired from New York and came out here to California, he answered an ad to teach in the Grant High School District.  It turned out that he was very good at working with the variety of ethnic groups at Grant.  Esther took care of him when he got Alzheimer’s and he was only in a hospital for about eleven days of hospice at the end of his life.

Since he was in the Army during the WWII there was a flag draped casket at his funeral in New York with an honor guard.

This entry in the on-line guest book sums it up:

Grandpa George was the best grandpa. He taught me how to be the polite young man I am today. He always gave me an A+ on being a good grandchild and I would have to give him an A++ for being such a wonderful person and grandfather!  Much love, Grandpa George, we all miss you dearly.

* * * * *
George Eric Martin - May 19, 1921 to December 6, 2008

George died in Sacramento, CA after a long battle with heart disease, surrounded by his loving family, a gallant fighter to the end. He served in the USA Army with distinction for 26 years in WWII, Korea and Vietnam. After retiring he worked for CalTrans in Stockton and Sacramento. He attended Delta College, University of Pacific, and University of California, Davis. In his spare time, he enjoyed with gusto travel, golf, Scottish events (he was Callie Club Treasurer in 1988), good books, and life in general. He was active in many organizations, notably the American Legion, VFW, Knights of Columbus and St. Andrews Society of Sacramento.

George is survived his wife, Linda; children: Carolyn Emanuel, Jean Scarbrough, George Martin, Jr., Eddie Martin and Gavin Martin as well as seven grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his brother, Edward, KIA in WWII and two children: Joan and Robert.

George will be greatly missed by his wife, his family and many friends. His spirit and memory will live on.

Burial was with full military honors at the Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno, CA on December 11, 2008. The family requested that memorial donations be made to the Disabled American Veterans.

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Felix D. Othon - August 28, 1929, New York City to March 12, 2007, Orangevale
(As told by Don MacRae)

I first met Felix in Korea, December 1950, he was a Marine Staff Sergeant attached to Charlie Company, 5th. Bn, 1st Marine Division. I was an E-3 Navy Corpsman attached to Headquarters Company of the same battalion. I was just a kid of eighteen and Felix was an old man of twenty-three.

I remember spending Christmas Eve in the CP tent of Headquarters Company, it was freezing and the only heat was from the Coleman lanterns. There were four Marines playing Poker on top of a pile of sleeping bags. One of them was Felix the other three were two sergeants and a colonel, some guy they called Chesty.

For the next few months, Felix kept me out of trouble. I had problems though, most people didn’t understand me too well and Felix ran interception for me. He taught me a lot about the Marine Corps way of life in the boonies. He had his own duties and I had mine. He ran a squad of Marines, and I kept checking guys for frostbite.  On the 20th of February, I got hit and was med evacuated to Yokosuka, Japan. They eventually transferred me to Naval Hospital, San Diego.

I didn’t see Felix for almost a year, but when I got out of the hospital, I caught up with him at Camp Pendleton, MCB. I was soon transferred back to Navy duties, mostly at sea. Felix stayed in the Marine Corps for six more years. When he got out, he was already married to Barbara and they soon had a child. They lived in the foothill town of Garden Valley, California. He worked as an electronics technician for AeroJet. He also did something very strange, he joined the Naval Reserves, because the next time I saw him he was a Petty Officer Second Class Electronics Technician. He joined the Navy because he wanted to be involved with electronics and in the Marine Corps, you are first a rifleman and a specialist second, so joining the Marine Reserves was out.

The next time I saw him was when I was giving CPR classes to a group of Reserves on active duty at the Naval Base San Diego.

When he saw that I had Navy duty for the next six months before I was to received orders for duty at the Marine Corps School for Mountain Warfare at Bridgeport, CA [Navy Corpsmen who have been given FMF orders (Fleet Marine Force) spend two years with the Marines and two years with the Navy], he again did something extraordinary, he set in motion to change his rate from an Electronics Tech to a Corpsman. This is very difficult to do, almost impossible, but if anyone could do it….he could, and he did.

He was now a Navy Corpsman serving with the Marines, the best of two worlds, as far as he was concerned. We were a team that went from one duty station to another.

There are too many episodes that would be hard to explain, some of them good, some not so good.

The next eighteen years were spent in close communication with one another. We went on a trip to Scotland, and traveled all over the United States.

The last trip was to my son’s retirement from the Navy at Norfolk, Virginia. We didn’t know it then, but he had to already have the cancer in his stomach. He never complained, toward the end he was quite stoic. He was a little but big guy. Stubborn, hard to get-along-with, but he was generous to a fault. He contributed the large tent for St. Andrews Society and helped with their annual Burns Supper.  He was very proud to be an honorary member of Clan MacRae and a brother of Saint Andrew’s.    He was my brother.