Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society
History Quarterly Digital Archives

Source: July 1999 Volume 37 Number 3, Page 106

In Memoriam: Richardson Latrobe Onderdonk

Page 106

A former member of the History Club, Richardson Onderdonk died on April 18, 1999 in Tucson, Arizona where he had lived since moving from Malvern in 1997. He was 81 years old.

Born in Saint James, Maryland, he grew up in the Hagerstown area. During World War II he served in the U. S. Army Air Corps. Dick was a gradu­ate of Saint James School and Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut. He earned a master's degree in education from the University of Delaware. He was for many years a history, government and social studies teacher in both private and public schools. He also sold the Encyclopedia Brittanica in Chester and Lancaster counties during 1966-1980,

He was particularly proud of his line of descent from the old Latrobe and Onderdonk families. In 1983 he presented to the History Club a biographical account of the life of his great, great grandfather, Benjamin Henry Latrobe who was an architect, engineer and traveler born in England (1764) and died in New Orleans (1820). The article was pub­lished in the January 1994 issue of the Quarterly.

In addition to his wife Carol, he is survived by four sons, Reynolds L., Adrian L., Richardson D. and Julian H., a brother Henry of San Francisco, and five grandsons. He was a former member of the Church of the Good Samaritan in Paoli and will be buried at St. Mark's Church, Lappane, Md,