LEELBURG, Va. – Richard Byrd Wise, 94, of Leesburg, Va., died on April 1, 2024, at Ashleigh at Lansdowne. Born March 10, 1930, in Wayne, Mich., he was the son of Benjamin Wise and Matilda Seabolt Wise.

He served in the United States Coast Guard, retiring as a Commander in 1975 as the captain of the USCGC Duane in Portland. Richard graduated the Coast Guard Academy, During his distinguished career, Richard was involved in search-and-rescue missions in the North Atlantic, Caribbean, and New York and Portland Harbors, where he helped develop new protocols for locating the missing. Richard was stationed in Argentina, Newfoundland; Palm Bay, Fla.; New York City, N.Y.; Puerto Rico; and finally, Portland, where he settled with his family and lived in the same house for 50 years. He continued to work after retiring from the service in various professions, including teaching Physics at Thornton Academy.

Richard was a champion for what he thought was right. He was an enthusiastic writer of letters to the Portland Press Herald and responded to new injustices in changing times. He made it his mission to ensure that his daughter would play Little League baseball when girls were not allowed, and she in fact became the first girl in the league. Decades later, he became a dedicated volunteer for marriage equality in Maine, earning Equality Maine’s Out Front Volunteer Leadership Award. He was an outspoken member of and volunteer for the Democratic Party, seeking always to make the world hospitable for his children and equal for all.

With his wife, Amelia, Richard lived an engaged life in Portland, especially in retirement. He was the treasurer of the Maine Mayflower Society, volunteered at the polls every election day, logged many miles as a member of the American Volkssport Association, and took his grandchildren sailing in Casco Bay. Together over the years Richard and Amelia enjoyed traveling to Coast Guard Academy reunions and visiting family that had spread out across the country as far as California and Alaska. Richard and Amelia were an inseparable team for 61 years of marriage. To say that they completed each other would not be an overstatement. At family gatherings, he would call to mind the night they met at an officers club party in the early ’60s and was was known to say (and say often), “I sure am glad I went to that dance.”

Richard leaves many to cherish his memory, including his wife, Amelia Pittinger Wise; Richard Dean Wise and Robert Alan Wise, sons he shared with the late Veronica Ford Tomberlin; son, William Martin Wise (Dianne), daughters Gail Elizabeth Wise (Lynne Kirste) and Laura Dawn Wise (Joseph Fodor); sister, Dawn Wise Edens; and eight grandchildren.

Richard was predeceased by his granddaughter, Caitlyn Shea Wise.

A celebration of life ceremony will be held at a later date. Please look for updates at http://www.loudounfuneralchapel.com.

In lieu of flowers please consider making a donation in Richard’s honor to a cause that you believe in.