It is with sorrow, and with deep gratitude for his long and full life, that the family of Richard Alan Ladd announces his passing at home in Freedom, Maine, on September 8, 2025, at the age of 92, following a brief battle with esophageal cancer.

Richard was born during a blizzard on December 11, 1932, in Dover-Foxcroft, Maine, the third child of Roy Alan and Harriett Ellen (Noyes) Ladd. He graduated from the original Foxcroft Academy. In 1950, he met his future wife, Elsie Reynolds, at a 4-H gathering in Orono. The couple married in 1952 and, after two years of Army service during the Korean War, they settled in the Waterville area.

Richard worked at Crown Auto Body for twelve years before joining Maine Central Railroad, where he spent twenty years as a Carman and Carman Welder. Later he built and ran his own business, Ladd's Auto Body Shop, and served as maintenance man at Bethany Nursing Home before retiring.

He enjoyed tending his woodlot, cutting firewood, logs, and pulpwood. A restorer at heart, he brought new life to two tractors and countless other items others might have discarded. "Just because something is old doesn't mean it has no value," he often said, a philosophy he believed applied to people as well.

He and his wife, Elsie, moved to Freedom in 1963 and enjoyed 54 years of country living together. He was a member of the Knox Ridge Baptist Church for many years and his faith in the Lord carried him through the ups and downs of life.

He enjoyed bowling, horseshoes, croquet, flying model airplanes, snowmobiling, crossword puzzles, jigsaw puzzles and cribbage. Cribbage was a game that he enjoyed almost every afternoon for many years with his two buddies Charles Doore and Allen Higgins.

Richard was predeceased by his wife, Elsie, as well as his parents, Roy and Harriett Ladd; brother Robert and his wife Addie Ladd, and sister Edith and her husband Elwood Hussey of Dover-Foxcroft.

He is survived by his daughter, Ellen Power and her husband Clifton of Belfast; his son R. Alan Ladd and his wife Kathleen of Albion; granddaughter, Renee Kitchen and her husband Donald of Northport; great-grandchildren Ajax and Greta Kitchen of Northport; brother-in-law, Richard Reynolds and his wife Teena of Bangor; as well as several cousins and many nieces and nephews. 

Visiting hours will be held Tuesday, Sept. 16, from 3 to 5 p.m., at Riposta Funeral Home, 182 Waldo Ave., Belfast.

Funeral services are Thursday, Sept. 18, at 1 p.m., at the Knox Ridge Baptist Church in Thorndike. 

Burial will be Friday, at 11 a.m., at Pine Grove Cemetery in Dover-Foxcroft.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Richard’s name to either Neighborhood House, 174 Congress St., Belfast ME 04915 or Knox Ridge Baptist Church, PO Box 5, Thorndike ME 04986. 

Memories and condolences may be shared with his family at ripostafh.com.