Charles E. Richardson

​ Charles E. Richardson (November 26, 1934 – July 20, 2009) was the publisher of the unusually named newspaper, The Daily Rocket-Miner in Rock Springs in southwestern Wyoming. He worked in his family newspaper business throughout his youth before attending the University of Wyoming at Laramie and then entering the United States Army.

In 1960, he was appointed general manager of The Daily Rocket-Miner; fourteen years later, upon the death of his father, Richardson was elevated to publisher and president of the newspaper board of directors. In 2000, he retired as publisher but continued as the corporate president until his death.^[1]​ ​

Richardson was born in Newcastle in Weston County in northeastern Wyoming to David G. Richardson (1902–1974) and the former Margaret Edwards (1904–1997). In 1937, the senior Richardson purchased The Rocket newspaper and moved his family to Rock Springs. Charles Richardson resided in Rock Springs until 2005, when he moved to the capital city of Cheyenne but spent winters at another home in Scottsdale, Arizona.^[2]​

An athlete, Richardson was named to the first ever Wyoming All-State football team. In 1952, he graduated from Rock Springs High School and then studied accounting at the University of Wyoming, where he was a member of Kappa Sigma fraternity.^[2]

After graduation from UW in 1956, Richardson was commissioned a second lieutenant in the United States Army, for which he served in several locations including the U.S. Army Finance and Accounting Center at Fort Benjamin Harrison in the capital city of Indianapolis, Indiana. He rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel and received, among other awards, the Legion of Merit, the Meritorious Service Medal. a Marksman Medal for mastery of the M-1 rifle and the .45 caliber pistol, and the Sharpshooter Medal for his skill with a .38 caliber pistol.^[2]

Upon his father’s death in 1974, he was named publisher and president of the newspaper board of directors of The Daily Rocket-Miner. He received the "Heinsohn Award for Excellence in Newspapering." After he retired as publisher, Richardson remained corporation president until his death. During his tenure at the newspaper, he was also a civic leader who supported establishment of a new Sweetwater County Hospital and the expansion of Western Wyoming Community College. The newspaper adapted modern technology under Richardson’s tenure, and in 1974 newspaper offices were expanded to a second floor at the location at 215 D Street. From 1970-1974, he also owned and managed radio station KVRS in Rock Springs.^[2]​

Richardson served on the board of the Rock Springs Chamber of Commerce and the United Way of Sweetwater County. He was president of the Wyoming Broadcasting Company for three decades and served on the board of another newspaper, The Laramie Boomerang in Laramie. He was a board member and past president of the Wyoming Press Association. The group made him a lifetime member in 1999. He was a director of the former First Security Bank in Rock Springs.^[2]

He was appointed by Democratic Governor Michael J. Sullivan to a seat on the Wyoming Unemployment Insurance Commission. He also served on the Wyoming Employment Security Commission and was active in the UW Cowboy Joe Booster Club, the UW Aumni Association, the Masonic lodge, and its companion organization, the Shriners.^[2]​ ​

Richardson died in a hospice in Cheyenne. On November 16, 1974, he wed his second wife, the former Faye Spires Fries. He was further survived from the first marriage by two sons, Dr. Charles Alan Richardson (born c. 1959) of Chandler, Arizona, and James H. Richardson (born 1963) and wife, Kimberly, of Rock Springs; three daughters, Elaine A. Willis (born 1963), the president of the Exchange Club of Nashville, Tennessee, and husband, Jon Willis of Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, Shannon Fermelia, an attorney, and husband, Dr. Richard Fermelia, of Cheyenne, and Carla Howard and husband, Dr. Rick Howard, of Gilbert, Arizona; one sister, Patricia R. Guthrie of Laramie, and twelve grandchildren. His obituary does not specify the place of interment.^[2]

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