Nodra Richardson

If there’s a need in heaven for a good haircut or perm, Nodra Richardson will joyfully answer the call. But she will bring more than just her skill with a clipper and curler.
Nodra’s life on this earth included a nearly four decade career as a beautician in Racine. Her love, kindness, selfless giving and Christian faith were a hallmark of her 81 years and is what will be missed most by those who knew, loved and cared for this gracious woman, taken quickly by a horrific virus that has created great pain for millions of others. Her death on Dec. 13, 2020, came on the same day that a vaccine began to roll out of factories. She was among more than 3,000 to die that day from the virus and tragically helped push the national death toll to over 300,000 souls.
Nodra Pearl Richardson was born May 31, 1939, in a Durand hospital, the fourth of what would become six children for Gerald and Goldie Richardson, who at the time were living in the Pepin County village of Arkansaw. She was about 2 years old when the family moved to a farm outside of town and about five when her parents moved to a farm west of Eau Galle. This is where she lived life among the farm animals, her mother’s garden and her brothers and sisters. Nodra attended Hall School, a one-room brick building overlooking the scenic Missouri Valley, home to Lake Eau Galle and the Eau Galle River. She attended Durand High School but when her family moved to Hales Corners in southeastern Wisconsin in the late 1950s, Nodra enrolled in a beauty school in downtown Milwaukee and found her career calling. Her first job was at a beauty shop in the Milwaukee area but in 1963 she went to work for Janet and David Raffini, whom she met at cosmetology school and who had just opened Mr. David’s Hair Fashion on Racine’s south side. Nodra became a popular hair dresser and had a long list of clients, many of whom became good friends over the years before she retired in 2004. But Nodra didn’t just cut hair at work. She gave many of her nieces and nephews their first haircuts and would later do hair for some of her nieces on their wedding days. Nodra, known for her well-manicured nails, stylish hair, red lipstick and aqua-colored Ford Mustang, was also the “fun aunt.” She was the one who took hordes of family members to the Milwaukee County Zoo, the circus, Muskego Beach but was also game for a day in a fishing boat or a picnic at a county park. At Christmas, the bottom of the aluminum tree at her parent’s house would become almost obscured by the presents for her nieces and nephews, brothers and sisters. And for those who lived in places afar, the presents would arrive by mail with the same love that she showed those in Wisconsin.
Nodra enjoyed traveling throughout Wisconsin but also relished her trips to visit her sister, Mary’s family, in Louisiana, and to her brother, Bob’s family, in Belgrade, Montana, that usually included ventures into Yellowstone National Park. When she retired, Nodra moved to Watertown where she became inseparable from her two sisters, Wanda and Geraldine. The trio attended Christ United Methodist Church together, took part in cards and potlucks and took trips. Nodra’s nieces, Christine Anderson and Linda Woolridge, helped guide Nodra through life’s challenges the past seven years, which included two years at Jefferson Memory Care before moving in October to Marquardt Manor in Watertown. She tested positive for COVID-19 on Nov. 29, was admitted to the hospital Dec. 10 and died three days later. She is survived by her sisters Geraldine Elftmann and Wanda Vredenbregt of Watertown and Mary (Bill) Nelson of Quitman, Louisiana; and her brother, Robert Richardson of Hudson; She is further survived by 54 nieces and nephews spanning three generations. She was preceded in death by her parents and a brother, Terry Richardson. A memorial service will held at a later date in 2021. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Christ United Methodist Church, 112 Hall St., Watertown, Wis. 53094.
Hafemeister Funeral Home of Watertown is serving the family.