Richard Albert Lagesse

Richard Lagesse was the son of Marine and Donald Lagesse. He left behind his siblings, children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and his loving and caring wife Carol Lagesse. Richard grew up Phoenix, AZ alongside his brother, Donald Jr., and sister Christine. He joined the Navy at 17 and he later served in the Army, Arizona National Guard and Airforce. He retired from the service as a Captain in the Air Force.

Richard’s calling and contribution to society was his continuous fight for civil rights and equality for everyone. In the 90’s he and his wife, Carol, started their company “R & C Consulting” to develop and deliver training for the federal government and private entities on all aspects of human rights, Civil Rights, and many other aspects that related to Human Resources. This training took him all over the country and even overseas. He was adamant that everyone be treated with equality and respect. Richard especially enjoyed educating supervisors, managers and employees who misunderstood and struggled with the laws and rules. After years of success in training, he went back to work for the Federal government as an Equal Employment Officer for US Army Space command in Colorado, Alaska Fire Service in Fairbanks, and US Coast Guard in California.

After retirement he enjoyed playing golf in the Arizona climate, spending time with his family, traveling, cooking and being a staunch critic of clam chowder at restaurants. Although, it seemed that each restaurant had “The BEST he’d ever had.”

After a long struggle with his health, he passed away peacefully, in his sleep, early Friday morning on 3/17/23. In the time leading up to his passing he was surrounded by his friends and family, making sure to allow each one to visit before leaving his broken body and mind behind to be at rest.

His life was full of education and compassion for others, as well as unconditional love and assistance for his family. He will be remembered for his humor, smile, encouraging people to push their comfort zone and the overall presence he brought whenever he entered a room. We believe there has never been a single person he met that did not laugh and smile because of him.

Richard is deeply missed.