Richard Stephen Summers

SHREVEPORT, LA - Richard Stephen Summers, born February 21, 1955, in Minden, LA to Nancy Carr LaRue Summers and Edwin Wilson Summers and passed away September 15, 2018. A Visitation will be held from 5:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, September 18, 2018, at Rose-Neath Funeral Home, 1815 Marshall Street, Shreveport, LA. It is said that some people are born "out of time". These individuals have values that may seem dated or out of place in our society today. Richard was one such individual. Our family would have been lesser for his absence, but Richard may have been more at home in feudal Japan or the Old West. These were places a man lived by the strength of his arm and the sharpness of his mind, both of which were true characteristics of Richard. He loved military history and western movies and could recite endless facts with incredible accuracy. Although he was fiercely loyal to his nearest friends and family, Richard often gave the impression of being gruff. He liked his whisky, a good cigar and his ever present German Shepherd. His close friends and siblings recall a deeper, perhaps truer picture of Richard; a tender hearted, animal loving, adventurous young man who leapt before he looked and often balked at authority. His penchant for adventure lead him to the military where he served four years as a sergeant in the U.S. Air Force; he was based at Grand Forks, North Dakota and the U.S. Air Force bases in Ramstein and Bitburg, Germany. Richard was a wonderful husband, brother, uncle, and "ol papaw" whose sense of humor was the stuff of family legend. Richard was preceded in death by his parents and his brother, Jonathan Summers. Left to cherish his memory is his wife Christina Summers; mother-in-law, Margaret Foster; son, Bruce Tharp; daughter, Angela Tharp; sisters, Lorraine Summers Mull and Susan Summers Bailey; sister-in-law, Bonne' Bouchard Summers; nieces, Kathryn LaRue Mull, Sarah Elizabeth Bailey, Grace LaRue Bailey and Emma Caroline Bailey; nephews, Phillip Summers, Ian Summers, Jeffrey Summers Mull and James Summers Bailey; granddaughters, Tabytha Tharp, Karlee Tharp, Brooklyn Buterbaugh and Mariah Buterbaugh; beloved pets, Buster, Chico, Chica, Zaggy, Star and Chelsea. The family would like to extend their deepest thanks to Dr. Peyman Roohani and the Pierremont Healthcare Center and request that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the American Heart Association.