Randy Richards wrote the following about his grandfather in his January 2023 work, "This is a Summary of the Life and Times of: Grandpa Julian Richards (Charles Julian and Lela May Richards)"
In the 1920s Grandpa was advancing his carpentry skills. After he married Lela
May, they continued their involvement at the Dederick Christian Church.
In this time period he voluntarily led the workers to remodel the church building
to include a tapered floor, theater-style auditorium, that was uncommon for a
country church of that day. That theater-style floor still exists today.
Grandpa also helped with the next remodeling of the church building in the 1960s that I was part of, when termite damage required replacement of the joists & floor.
The Dederick Christian Church continues and is still active today.
This ongoing voluntary work was Grandpa’s service toward the Lord’s work to
introduce John 3:16 “For God so loved the world…” so more and more people could hear about and accept God’s free gift of Christian salvation.
I am thankful for Grandpa and his work for helping continuity of this local church,
because I learned about God’s saving grace from an early age at this church.
When we all get to heaven, I’m going to tell Grandpa, “thanks for your service. I
am here, in part, because of your early work that supported even my generation.”