Katherine Ann Tupper Richards, formerly of Southampton, died in her sleep on March 20, after a long illness, at the Orange Regional Medical Center in Orange County, New York. She was 81.
Ms. Richards was born in Southampton in 1933 at the home of Ned and Kate Tupper on North Sea Road, the former Tupper Boathouse at Conscience Point. Known as “Ann,” she graduated from Southampton High School in 1951 and from the State University of New York at New Paltz with a bachelor’s degree in education in 1955. She also earned a master’s in education from Adelphi University in 1974. Survivors said Ms. Richards found great joy in working with children as a kindergarten teacher at the Babylon, Baldwin, and East Rockaway School districts in Nassau County. She became a resident of Southampton Village shortly after her retirement from teaching in 1993 and was actively involved in the First Presbyterian Church of Southampton, where she sang in the choir.
She is survived by three children, Karen Richards of Warwick, New York; Brian Richards of Washington State, and Ned Richards of New York City; and five grandchildren, Danielle Pepe and Ian, Paul, Phoebe, and Lorenzo Richards.
A memorial service will be planned for the summer in Southampton.