Richard Rathborne Graham Hobson

Richard Rathborne Graham (Dick) Hobson, husband of Kathleen Stanton Hobson (Kay) passed away early in the morning on Sunday, May 23, 2021 in Alexandria, Virginia. By his side were his wife of 60 years, as well as all his children and one grandchild who gathered in person and by phone to share their great love for him.

Richard Hobson was born in Orange, New Jersey on July 28th, 1931, to Robert Archer Hobson and May Hartley Carmichael. He spent his early years at the Hobson family farm “The Forest” and “The Forest Lodge” in Goochland County, Virginia before moving with his immediate family to Alexandria, Virginia in 1940 where he attended Ft. Belvoir and Douglas MacArthur Elementary Schools, George Washington High School and Episcopal High School. After graduating from Episcopal in 1949, he attended Princeton University, as part of the school’s Navy ROTC unit. Following graduation from Princeton in 1953, he served three years as a Naval officer in the Atlantic Fleet and with the Naval Bureau of Personnel. He then attended Harvard Law School (Class of ’59), where he and three classmates won Harvard’s prestigious Ames Moot Court Competition. Dick remained deeply grateful for scholarship opportunities that enabled him to enjoy an extraordinary education and lasting friendships made at these institutions.

 During his time at Harvard Law, Dick met and fell in love with Kathleen Pittman Stanton (Kay) of Grosse Ile, Michigan who was working in book publishing with Houghton Mifflin. Even in his last days, he beamed at telling the story of how their love was meant to be! They were married in Grosse Ile on December 10th, 1960 and lived in Boston for the first years of their marriage while Dick worked for Arthur D. Little management consulting. In 1962, they moved to his hometown of Alexandria where Dick was the ninth lawyer to join a great group of colleagues forming Bauknight, Prichard, McCandlish and Williams, a firm that later became Booth, Prichard and Dudley, and then later still McGuire Woods. In 1976, he was elected by the people of Alexandria to serve in Virginia’s House of Delegates where he served two terms until 1980. Dick was a devoted and energetic servant in local and state politics and civic organizations through his life, including chairmanships on the Virginia and Alexandria Democratic Committees, President and Board Member of the Seminary Hill Civic Association, President and Board Member of the Alexandria Library Company, President of the Board of Directors of Different Drum School, Trustee of the Virginia Historical Society, Trustee of the Shenandoah Valley Battlefield Foundation, Inc. and a member of the American Law Institute and Lambda Alpha International global land economics society.

Faith in God was the foundation of his life and a driving force for his love and commitment to family and community. He was a dedicated and enthusiastic member of the Episcopal Church and active since the 1940’s at Immanuel Church-on-the-Hill where he served as Senior Warden and many terms on the vestry.  He was also a devotee of Shrine Mont, an Episcopal church retreat center in Orkney Springs, Virginia where he and Kay have enjoyed an annual gathering of friends and family from the 1960’s to this day.

Richard is survived by his wife, Kathleen Stanton Hobson, their children, Richard R. G. Hobson, Jr. of Alexandria, Henry Lee Stanton Hobson and his wife Ann of Dallas, Texas, Anne Hartley Hobson Wensing and her husband Kevin of Alexandria, and Kathleen Annette Archer Hobson Davis and her husband Mark of Chagrin Falls, Ohio. Dick loved and was so proud of his eight grandchildren, Ann Blake Hobson, Kathleen Vaughan Hobson, Henry Lee Hobson, Madeline Stanton Davis, Jonathan Trey Hobson, Ava Kathryn Hobson, Anderson Miller Davis and Grace Hartley Hobson Wensing. Dick was the consummate family man and considered his family to be his most important legacy.

The family would like to thank Richard’s devoted caregivers, including Leslie Romero, Ishmail Kamara, Quinton Peacock and Prince Nti.

A memorial service will be held on Wednesday, June 2nd at 3:00 p.m. at Immanuel Chapel, Virginia Theological Seminary, Alexandria, Virginia. The family welcomes in-person attendance. Those unable to attend may view the service on the Immanuel Church-on-the-Hill YouTube page.

The family requests that in lieu of flowers donations may be made in Dick’s memory to two of his favorite communities: Immanuel Church-on-the-Hill and Shrine Mont.

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