This is an oral history interview with C. Phillip Richards, class of 1940, conducted by Marilyn Summers on October the 25th, 1999. We are at Mr. 

Richards' home in Atlanta, Georgia, and the subject of the interview is his life in general and his experiences at Georgia Tech. Mr. 

Richards, thank you for letting us come into your home today with all of our equipment because we're anxious to hear your story. Where did this all begin and when? 

I was born on Spring Street in Atlanta, Georgia. My sister remembers the number of the house, but I don't. And before I remember anything, we moved to Merritt Avenue in Atlanta, which is... And what year was it that you were born? 

It was about 19... 19 or 1920 that we moved. And you were born in? 

In 19? 

In 1917. Okay. And, let's see, 1917 was the year of the big fire. You arrived the same year the big fire came to Atlanta, huh? 

Well, I don't remember any fire. No. 

Well, you were a little young for that. 

So your earliest memory is living on Merritt Street then? 

Right, and they have changed the name of Merritt's Avenue to Renaissance Boulevard at the present time. time. And it is near Peachtree. What elementary school would that have sent you to? 

Well, I started in Calhoun for half a year. I was in the middle of the year. My birthday is in February, so I was always in the middle of the year. And I went a half a year to Calhoun elementary school. And then what? 

And then we moved to 960 Drury Street, which is near the Highland, Virginia area. 

And I went to Inman School, which was brand new and just opened at that when I started and I stayed in Inman School until the fifth grade and then they moved me to Highland School because they ceased to have a middle year at Inman School about that time and and our whole class was broken up and some went to various schools at the time. What did your dad do for a living when you were born? 

My father was an attorney. 

So you were raised in a household where you were expected to be a good student then? 

My father had very little education and he was a brilliant man who mastered being an attorney, which was quite a step up. 

And he believed that education was the one thing that he could give his children and that the thing they needed more than anything else. 

So he dedicated himself to all of us going to college. How many brothers and sisters did you have? 

I had one sister and two brothers. And you all went to college. 

So you grew up knowing you were going to go to college. Yes. And my brothers, Robert, started the tech in 1932. And my younger brother, William, started in 1940 and finished in 1950. A little stop along the way. He had a tour at Pearl Harbor. First. Yeah. 

So you're a tradition of tech men, you and your brothers. That's correct. That's wonderful. And my sister went to Shorter. She was the oldest, and she went to Shorter College. in Rome, Georgia. 

Now, as a youngster, knowing you were going on to college, the next most important thing that happened to you was going to, choosing a high school. Is that correct? 

I remember more of a high school than any other. And what high school did you go to? 

I went to Boys High School in Atlanta, Georgia. And all my neighbors went there too, so we had very few who went to other places. 

But, boys, I stayed an extra year to play football, so I took every course they had in Spanish and German and French. 

It was an extraordinary high school, wasn't it? 

It was very academic, and those of us who were lucky enough to go there certainly found tech a lot easier than those who were not. 

Now, did you always know it was going to be tech? 

No. 

When did you make up your mind? 

I guess I made up my mind because my friend, Roan Beard, was going there, and I didn't know anybody else going anywhere else. 

So you were just influenced by Roan. 

Yes, and Roan went to Georgia Tech, and he died a couple of years ago, but I went from the fifth grade through college with Roan. 

So he was one of your best friends then growing up. Yes, he was a close friend. He did a lot at Georgia Tech. He was very important to us, as I'm sure you're going to tell us some of these stories now. 

So going to Boys High was a good experience for you, And how did you like going to school, period? 

Were you a good student? 

I was always interested in any subject that was taught. And I remembered what the teacher said, and I hated homework. Oh, you hated homework. 

So you tried to learn it all while you were there. Right. Right. And I was, if I studied with someone who was a bookworm, between us, we did well. Because you weren't the bookworm type. You just learned everything in the classroom, is that it? 

Mostly. And you were quite athletic? 

I accidentally started playing football when I was 12 years old. 

Now, how did that start, accidentally? 

How did that happen? 

Well, I was carrying my brother's paper route, and I went by Claremont Presbyterian Church, and they were playing football, and they looked at my size and said, you ought to play with us, and so I started playing with them, and from then on, for 12 years, I played football. You must have liked it. oh well um i was glad to be through so maybe you just did it huh so you played at boys high on their team yes i was i was selected by shorty doyle who was the coach as being an all-time a guard at Boyce High School. How wonderful. On the all-time team. A great honor for you then. Oh, it was a great honor. 

Well, now, what good did that do you when you made up your mind to go to Georgia Tech? 

Well, I received a scholarship to Tech. Who approached you about that? 

Dean Griffin. Dean Griffin. We know George. 

Yeah, George was a good friend of everybody that ever knew him, and certainly he was a credit to Tech. 

So he heard about you being a good football player over at Boys High, and he said maybe there'd be a football scholarship for you then, huh? 

Yes. And he must have been very pleased to know you were a good student, too. 

Well, I don't know how he... I don't know that he knew I was a good student, but... Oh, he knew. 

George knew everything about you guys everything at first I had committed to University of Georgia to go there and but I decided that I would go to Tech instead good thing for us good thing for us and thank you Roanbeer for influencing you so there you are over at Tech and let's see was Alexander the coach then yes and and Bobby Dodd was the back was the offensive coach and Mac Thorpe was the line coach and Roy MacArthur was the B team coach so you had pretty pretty nice bunch of people that were giving you some direction there yeah they were tell me about some of your teammates who else was on your team Well, Howard Ector was the quarterback. He played the fullback position, but he called the signals. And Howard and I continue to be friends, and we play golf together all the time. Howard had a major ****** about two years ago. We're so happy he's coming back so nicely. 

What was he like to play football with? oh howard was great and and he was one of the to me one of the great players that georgia tech has ever had and and he doesn't get enough credit well he's got you to do that for him now today well i do i do that every opportunity i have did y'all have a good time playing football Yes, and certainly somebody who weighed, I mean, the heaviest person on our team weighed about 212 or something like that. And now they have people who weigh 300 on the team. 

Well, people have just gotten bigger all the way around. No, they found them somewhere. I imagine they were all there to begin with. 

So you were a quick team, probably. Not a heavy team, but a quick team, huh? 

I think that's the beginning of the word razzle-dazzle. And that was what Howard was so good at, is hiding the ball until the other team was confused. 

Well, if it worked, that sounds good. 

So there was you and Howard and Roan. And I played golf with Earl Weeby and I still play golf with Earl and Hawk Cabot. 

Well, these are all people that you played football with at that time. And I played with J. L. Brooks, and I also played with Eisen, Bob Eisen, and Bob was an All-American. 

So you were a really good team, lots of good opportunities. Oh, we played in the Orange Bowl, the second team Tech had ever had play in a bowl game. 

Isn't that exciting? 

Do you remember going? 

How did you get there? 

How would you have gotten to the Elinchbowl? 

Oh, let's see. How did we get there? 

I remember several train rides, and we must have gone by train. I remember several bus rides, too. 

Could have been one or the other, huh? 

Was it hard for you to travel with the team to these games and still keep up your studies, or were you doing good in school? 

It was not difficult, and I guess that most of the football team took industrial management, and so I was very familiar with all of the players because they were having classes with them. Having classes with them. They provide special tutoring for football players? 

At the time, no. You were just meant to do it as best you could. And you were a commuting student besides that. 

You didn't live on the campus, did you? 

Well, I had so much money per year, and I used it as I saw fit and did not live at the school. I could have lived at the school, but then I wouldn't have had as much money. Better to live at home, eat Mama's cooking, and still have money to spend. 

As I recall, I had $400 to buy all the school books, pay my tuition, and whatever I chose to do, I could have joined a fraternity. 

I was a pledge in Sigma Nu in my freshman year, But I decided that the family condition and my condition, that I was better off not to use the money that way. 

You were a wise young man, huh? 

And your dad was pleased? 

Yes, he really had a good time watching me play football. 

Now, you said your other brother had already gone to school at Tech. He was ahead of you. He graduated in 1936. Yeah, so he was four years ahead of you. Right. 

So you were already a Tech family then. The tradition was there. Yes. I guess Roland and Robert influenced me as to go to Tech. 

Did you go to football games when you were a teenager, before you started there? 

When your brother was there, did you ever go to any of those games? 

Well, I was always interested in college football, but I don't remember ever going to a game. Until you were actually playing the game. Until I was, or after I'd played. Did you have a happy life there? 

Yes, very much. You enjoyed your college time. And I enjoyed the friends I made. Oh, they've been lifetime friends for you, haven't they? 

Yes, they have. 

Do you remember any of your professors at all? 

Well, I remember Professor Ajax and Professor Rainey and Professor Winn and Denison. You remember quite a few of them. What did you think of them? 

How did they stack up as teachers? 

They were all good. They were all good. And I enjoyed school. I enjoyed going to class. 

Did George Griffin keep up with you the whole time you were there? 

Yes, George knew everybody by name. He never forgot anybody. It's amazing, isn't it? 

Especially since he called himself a sack brain. 

Well, my Boy Scout leader was a friend of sack brain Griffith, And they called him Sack Green Brain Milliken. Oh, really? 

And it's real strange that my Boy Scout leader was a football player at Georgia Tech. And he did not finish. And then he came, and I guess I was a Boy Scout until I was 16. And then he came back to college to finish. 

When I was, he was in my class to finish, and he taught at Macaulay after he left Georgia Tech and coached the football team. 

Isn't that fun? 

So you had a former master being your partner, so to speak, your student right with you then? 

Oh, he was, he's great, he's one of the notable people I've ever known. His name was Millican? 

Yeah, Milligan. Milligan. Milligan. Mr. Milligan. We'll make note of that. Do you remember his first name? 

It's Harry. Harry Milligan. 

Well, that must have taken a lot of courage to come back to school with a bunch of young guys, huh? 

Yeah, it must have. I was so surprised. 

To see him in the classroom, huh? 

Did you have a good social life during those years? 

You were a big football player. Yeah, I was not a big football player. 

Well, you were on the team for all four years, and you played in the bowl. I played in the bowl, yes. I started against Georgia. 

The first time I ever saw Tech beat Georgia, I started the game. Great. 

But I would not claim to be a great player at Georgia Tech. 

So are you telling me you didn't have any social life at all during those four years? 

Yes, I had, but it was mostly at home. It was not at Georgia Tech. Okay. Did you date? 

Yes. I had a good many dates. Did you have a car? 

No. 

Oh, you had a double date or take the street cars? 

Well, I could use my family's car if I needed to do anything special. It was not hard to get. Let me see. Did you ever go to any of the dances they had at Georgia Tech? 

Oh, yes, I did. You did like dances, then. 

Yeah, I went to, I usually went to most of them, and I remember I was not a great dancer, and I took a date who didn't know anybody, and I didn't know, it was mostly fraternity, there and and I had to I mean she had to endure my dancing more than than usual she had to endure it they were great social mixers though these dances they always had good bands didn't they and oh yeah he got into it I remember Hal Kemp particularly as Sully Mason and others, that I think in my freshman year, one of them was a Sigma Nu and came by the fraternity house while I was there, and it was enjoyable to meet him. Exciting thing to happen, huh? 

What was Atlanta like? 

Oh, my goodness. It had ice wagons. You can remember that? 

Oh, yeah, and English sparrows, I remember. They were part of the scene. I think there have been as many scientific advancements during my lifetime as any period. It certainly was true of my parents. They enjoyed more changes in the scientific way people lived than anybody I know. And they were interested in all the changes. Your father was open -minded to all these things. Oh, yes. 

Was he proud of you? 

Well, he was proud of all of his children, and he figured he owed them an opportunity, and the opportunity he gave them. Do you remember your graduation? 

From Tech? 

Yes, I do. And if I recall correctly, we all wore our military uniforms. Uh-huh. I mean, the ones who were in the military. 

Now, did you take ROTC? 

Yes. For longer than the two years you had to? 

Yes, I took all four years and was in the reserve. And our class, as much as any class, went directly into the Army after we graduated. 

I mean, soon, within a year, and I was in the Army for five years, and a year of it in the peacetime Army before the war started, and I had a good many friends there. When you graduated from Tech, did you get your commission then at the same time? 

Yes. 

So that was the pattern. I was in the reserve, and so was everybody in my class who took military. They were in the reserve also. 

And one of my particular friends at Georgia Tech was Harwell Huggins, who played mostly on the B team. And he had such courage and such determination that he won my admiration immediately. We were partners when we started business and were partners for 22 years. And he's a great fellow. He had an interesting military experience. Oh, yeah. Yeah, he went to Trinidad and married and had two children when he came back. And he told us he was busy protecting the beaches. And he was very successful. There were no invasions. He took care of that very well, didn't he? 

Oh, goodness. 

I went to India, and not many people recognized how important India was to the war in that if the Japanese had just been a little bit friendlier and a little less arrogant, I should say, they might have won India to their cause and been right at the Suez Canal and Iran. They could have bombed our help to Russia. 

It could have changed history completely, huh? 

Yeah, it could have changed history if India had done. I think that the British promised them that they would be free and independent, is what I should say. And because of that, they did not cause any trouble. 

Once you graduated in 1940, how long was it before you actually went active with military? 

Was that the first thing that happened to you, or did you work for a while? 

I worked for Rich's. No, I first worked for C&S Bank. Then I worked at Rich's as a, oh goodness knows what I forget what I was. For something. Yeah, I was a. And then what? 

And then I went in the Army in April of 1940. 41? 40. 

Well, didn't you? 

No, 41. 41, yeah. 41. 

So you had several months out to experience life a little bit and then decided military was calling. 

When I came back, my father was a good friend of the division manager of Gulf Oil, and he got me a job with Gulf Oil. 

But that would have been after the war. That was after the war. Let's talk a little bit more about what happened during the war. When you enlisted or were called? 

I was an officer, second lieutenant when I went in. 

Okay, that was in April of 41. Right. 

So you were already in the military when Pearl Harbor occurred. Right, and my brother was at Pearl Harbor. Oh, boy. And we did not hear from him for weeks and weeks and weeks. And my father finally got Senator Russell to tell him he was not on the casualty list. 

Oh, boy, what a relief for everybody, huh? 

Well, where's the first place you went with the war? 

I went to Camp Davis, which is in North Carolina, and I went with Harville Huggins. 

Well, that was a lucky ******. And we had Selman Ledbetter and Rogers Toy to come two weeks later. 

So there was a little tech con client there. 

Yeah, and we had a place on Wrightsville Beach that the general declared the quarters not adequate for officers, and therefore we got $6 a day. And so we used that money to have a place on the beach that we all lived and had a good time. And every weekend that we could get away, we went down there. And the people that we rented from had a boat. They hadn't run in years, and we fixed it. It made the best of that situation. Yeah, it went out in the ocean. Those were the real pleasant days when we were at Wrightsville Beach in Wilmington, North Carolina. 

And how long did that last before you got separated? 

Well, when Pearl Harbor happened, Harbor was in the 99th anti -aircraft, and he went to, his unit went left. 

I switched to, from the 100th, which was, Selman and I were in the 100th, and Rogers and Huggins were in the 99th, I switched to the 54th anti-aircraft, and they were supposed to go overseas, but they didn't. 

So I volunteered to join something in El Paso, Texas, which was supposed to be a very important, I mean, And they were airborne and anti-aircraft they were supposed to be to move into dangerous positions. And why I did that, I don't know. Who knows? 

But at any rate, we went from El Paso, which is, to India. 

And we rode across the country in a train and went to Charleston, left from Charleston, South Carolina to go to India. And we did not know where we were going. We only suspected where we were going. And we went around South Africa and then up to Karachi, India. And I'm one of the few people who's been around the world. It's because of this very thing. Yeah, because of the military. 

When we landed at Karachi, we were there about six weeks before they moved us to the place they wanted us to go. And that was in Assam, which is the most eastern part of India. and it was the route to China and we were anti-aircraft and we they took our we were separate batteries we were not part of a regiment or anything like that but there were there were several separate batteries and they all went to different airfields we we rode over with them, but we did not see them often once we were there. And the Japanese were at Michinal, which is in Burma, and maybe 150 miles away from us. 

So you were really close to them. 

We were close, and they used our airfields to fly supplies to China, which was the only way they could reach China at the time, until the war ended almost. And our Airfoil was the fighter Airfoil, which protected all the other airfields. we did not have as much cargo flown to China from our Airfoil as the others did. 

And we were raided one time, and they caught all our fighter planes on the ground and burned them all up. Oh, my goodness. That must have been a terrible time. Not a single fighter plane was able to take off. and I kind of was tickled because the Air Force did not think much of any aircraft. 

But after that, after all their planes were shot up on the ground, they brought ammunition, they brought everything to our... After the horse was gone, they shut the door. 

In fact, one time they caught one of our men urinating in a dark corner at the movie and they would not let anybody from the anti-aircraft go to the movie from then on. Isn't that strange? 

Who can explain such things? 

Well, that was one of the funny incidents. 

What was the culture like? 

Were you exposed at all to the Indian people or to the culture? 

The officers, I mean, the men lived at the gun sites, and we had machine guns, 50-caliber machine guns, because you couldn't be airborne and carry anything else. 

But the officers lived in RAF accommodations, what would you call it, a lodge almost. And we had servants, goodness knows. Every morning when I woke up, my servant was there. And every afternoon, every evening when I went to bed, my servant was there. He polished our brass and shined our shoes. 

So this wasn't so hard to take, was it? 

No. The British knew how to live in the kind of areas. Oh, yeah. And we lived like the British. 

Did you adjust to the food and to the rest of the culture? 

I think that when we lived with the British, it was not quite so bad because we had a permanent establishment. 

But when we moved out, which was after about a year, we moved to Jorhat, India, and then we moved to Dakar and Bangladesh. 

So we moved all along the perimeter there with Burma. It wasn't quite as cushy, probably. No, it wasn't never quite as... we never had a servant again. You were polishing your own shoes, by the way. Yeah, what polishing they got. Yeah, what they got. 

Well, as time and the war wore on, everything changed everywhere, didn't it? 

Yes, and I think that the service in India was worthwhile, but very little was ever said about it. 

Isn't that interesting? 

It was a position of silence while it was happening, and then not a lot got said after, huh? 

Yeah. What's your chance to tell? 

It was an important place for you to be. 

And one, there was only one regiment of infantry, American infantry, in all of India, and it was called Merrill's Marauders. 

And they, toward the end of my tour in India, they, They, along with the Chinese division, invaded Burma and wanted to take the end of the railhead, which was Michinau. 

And they had a hard time, and they took one of our anti-aircraft batteries after they had finally conquered the Airfoil at Michinau and flew them in. And they were the only American troops they had who had any fighting ability. And they ended up as perimeter defense rather than anti-aircraft. 

But I heard a history channel talk about, and they sent anti -aircraft people there instead of somebody who could fight. That made me so mad. I didn't want to listen to the history channel for so long because that's not what I remember. 

They took everybody they could, including the engineers and everybody, and sent them to Mitchenau to hold that place when they had a hard time holding it. 

That's why it's so important for us to collect the stories because the way it really happens sometimes is not the way it's recorded. We understand how that happens, don't we? 

Yeah. 

So you had an opportunity firsthand to see what was going on and know what was going on. Yes. And it was an important post. And you were there for two and a half years. 

Yes, and I meant to mention that when we had the air raid, we shot down about 12, if they counted all of the people all the way back to the airfields in Burma. And we were the only ones shooting at them. 

But we had maybe four or five right around the airport that we shot down. And they were so low that you could see the color of their eyes. Really? 

They were strafing the runways. What a terrifying time for you. It must have been just terrifying. 

Well, that's what we were there for. You did the job. Really, they bombed the Airfoil first for the *******. 

And then they had their fighter planes strafe, and nobody was killed except a few Indians who were laborers on the field. There were maybe about four or five, but no soldier was killed. And there must have been at least three or four hundred people. Isn't that amazing? 

What a story to be able to tell. Wow. You had no casualties. That's really quite amazing. 

And the only casualties we ever had in our battery was people flying with the British over India, I mean over Burma to drop supplies. And they never did come back. We had about two or three people that did that. You just lost them. Wow. 

Well, what happened when you finally had enough points to get out of the war? well we'd been moved around and several times which i said we were jorhot and dacar and then we moved back up to near denjan which was the original place we were and they told us certain ones who've been there a certain length of time over two years could go home. 

So I bummed a ride with a B-25 in the Bombay to Calcutta and then rode the train all the way across from Calcutta to Bombay and then got in a Navy ship that went around Australia and stopped at Sydney and Brisbane and New Caledonia and then came right straight to Los Angeles from there. You literally went around the world. Yes. Literally. Yeah, we went so far south around Australia that we hit the Antarctic, I think. It was cold. Everything, everything, the whole world. 

And you came back to Los Angeles? 

Angeles and then rode the train all the way across the country to Miami. 

We stopped in Atlanta and then went to Miami to a Reston Recreation Center and then we're talking a whole lot about the Army. We should switch. 

Okay, it's time. Let's go back then. All right, you've mustered out of the Army and And you came back to Atlanta. That was always your plan. And you said your father was able to influence a friend, give you a position with golf. Yes. 

Is this about the time maybe you started noticing that little girl that lived in your neighborhood? 

Yes, it is. 

And my cousin who lived across the street, his name was Cuthbert Giles, and he went to Tech also, arranged for us to go to a Golden Gloves boxing match. And of all the things that Trudy doesn't care for is boxing. 

So we went to a boxing tournament, the first date we ever had. And you had known her since she was a little child, is that right? 

Yes. 

She was three years old when I first noticed that she came across the street to her aunt and uncle's house. And so now she's a grown-up young lady, and you noticed her a little bit differently. Is that when you started dating? 

Oh, yes. I mean, see, my cousin, I mean, her cousin arranged the first date, and we started dating after that. And then we got married two years after Abco Builders started. 

So how long was your courtship then? 

Several years. You took your time on that, huh? 

Well, I didn't have any money. 

So how long did you stay with golf, just a short period of time then? 

I was transferred to, I'd worked a year at golf, and I was transferred to Fayetteville, North Carolina as an office manager there and really had a great future in golf. 

But my friend Harwell called me up, and we'd always planned to not be working for somebody, and he called me up and says, We're general contractors. And I said, We are. And I was the only one that had any money. 

I'd saved all the money I'd had, and he called me in April and said, you know, we started January the 1st. He called me in April and says, come home. 

We need you, and I came home from there, and the hardest thing I had to do was to tell my boss that I was leaving, and he was a great fellow. It was a high-risk thing to do, wasn't it? 

Yeah, oh, it's very, very high risk. 

But it was also a big building time in Atlanta. And you guys recognize that. Not for us. Not right off the bat. 

But it was. 

It was a time when you were risking, but it was a good risk, wasn't it? 

Yes, it turned out to be a good risk. Why did you pick ABCO? 

Where did that name come from? 

Well, I think that I had two partners. One was Roper Winter, and the other one was Harville Huggins. And they wanted to be early in the telephone book, so they picked that name. 

So it would be ABC. Yeah, ABC would be early in the telephone book. 

My brother Robert said that that had to have a nickname, a motto or something, a slogan, so he called it Atlanta's Best Construction Outfit. There you go, ABCO, that makes sense. And so even now we call it, I mean, now we call it America's best construction. Yeah, you've expanded your horizons. Yeah, we have an office in Dallas, and we have worked all over the southeast. 

Well, what was your job with that partnership? 

Well, we divided the partnership into three different areas of responsibility. Harwell had the sales, and he was an estimator, and Winter, Roper Winter, had the construction. He was a field man that took care of all the jobs, and I was the administrator. and between us we shared the work and worked real well. I would say that Huggins and Wendell were at tops in their field. And they would say that you were too, so there you go. It was very harmonious then. 

I think that we had the egos enough to where it became hard after a while, after maybe eight or ten years. 

But the early days, everybody was working alone, and so you decided to get married. Yeah. For two years, I did not receive any income at all. In fact, I lived with my parents, and I couldn't afford anything. 

I went to Army camp twice a year to make money, to have something, and when I started paying myself a salary, which was almost two years later, Trudy and I got engaged and then got married. She was very patient with you. She was 29 and I was 34. 

So you were ready to settle down. And that has been almost 49 years ago. 

Well, the patience paid off for her. 

Well, see, I don't know how she puts up with me, but she has. 

And the business developed? 

The business developed, and we started, the first job we did out of the state was in Richmond, Virginia, and then we have worked all over Florida. 

And it was primarily commercial contracting, so you were building, what kind of buildings? 

Well, we started out building schools as the first commercial work we really did. And Solenoid School in DeKalb County was one of the first of the schools we built. And then we built in Cobb County Schools. 

Had Georgia Tech prepared you well for those tasks? 

Well, we were better prepared than we were able to get work. Slow curve there for a while, huh? 

Yeah. I remember that Winter and I, we'd get a job and we'd say, oh, this is a piddling job. Oh, maybe $200 or $300. dollars and we go do it ourselves because we couldn't figure we couldn't figure how we could make any money any other way hands-on huh yeah so you were into everything from planning it to actually making it happen but eventually it caught on and abco became a very successful general contractor. Yes, yes. 

And the Winter Company now is a derivative of one of my partners, and Rogers Construction Company is Huggins' domain. And between us, we have influenced construction in Atlanta pretty well. Pretty well. 

So the division of partners became, you said, what, eight or ten years after the beginning? 

Yes, went or left after about ten years, maybe nine or eight, but it's somewhere around there. And then Huggins and I were partners for another ten, twelve years. And then from that time on, we've each run our own company. I mean, the winner's dead. There's been plenty of business for all three companies, too. What has, you kept the original name, you kept Abco. Right. 

What buildings, what projects are the ones that give you the most pride? 

Well, if you take Georgia Tech, for instance, we have built the electrical engineering building there, the infirmary there, some dormitors there, the NASA buildings there. That's pretty exciting stuff. 

So it's been a good while since we've worked at Georgia Tech, but we hope we'll... 

But your mark is there everywhere. Yeah. You can ride around the campus and find things that we have built. That's great. 

When you point them to the city, what are the things in the city besides Georgia Tech? 

Well, the most recent thing that we have built that's large is a racetrack at Hampton, Georgia. which we have built also in Dallas, Texas. And Bruton Smith is the owner. He lives in Charlotte, North Carolina. 

And we have built enough work to where we have done a tremendous volume, with a volume that we've never envisioned. It got bigger and better than ever. Yeah. That's a wonderful thing to be able to say. Tell me about your family. 

Well, my son, Charlie, went to Georgia Tech, and he went there two years and majored in foosball. Uh-oh. No, I better, I hope you can eliminate that. No. Come on now. Tell us about Charlie. He's the oldest boy? 

He's the oldest child, and Charlie is brilliant beyond compare. He has done a great job of ABCO. Oh, so he went to work for the family. Oh, he's the CEO. Oh, wonderful. Wonderful. He's the president, and he has kept things going and has done well. Wonderful. And the next child? 

I hope he'll forgive me for saying it. I'm sure he will. He appreciates his dad's sense of humor, I'm sure. Who was the next child? 

Catherine. And Catherine married one. I mean, she worked for ABCO also, and she was a good project manager. 

And she married one of our superintendents and started her own business, which is called Couples Construction Company. And they do mostly residential work, but they have done commercial work. And they don't live very far from here. And Catherine is, at the age of 42, she had a first child. And the little girl is about two years old now, two and a half. And she's just as smart as she can be. And what's her name? 

Her name is Amy. Amy. 

So we have Catherine has Amy. Okay. And who was the next child who came after Catherine? 

They had twins of Alice and Martha. Lucky you. Twins. 

And what do they do? 

Well, Alice got a master's degree at Georgia and was in landscape architecture. And she has worked until she got real sick at Stone Mountain as the environmentalist. Oh, wonderful. 

And she, right now, she has been so sick with spinal meningitis for over a year that she is not working for anybody right now. 

Well, she'll do better, we hope. 

And how about Martha? 

Well, Martha has had her depression problems, and she is not working now either. 

Now, you mentioned you had four grandchildren, but you only told us about one, and that was Amy. 

So who are the other three? 

The other three are all Charlie's children, and they are Philip. His name is Philip Muir Richards, and Sarah. 

Golly, Moses, what is Sarah's middle name? 

You're going to be in trouble, Grandpa, as long as you have Sarah. Sarah Catherine. 

Okay, there you go. And I call her Catherine about half the time because she looks like Catherine. 

And then there's William, and that's my younger brother's name, and also my daughter-in-law's father's name. 

So it's a very familiar name in the family. 

So you have two grandsons and two granddaughters. You're very blessed. Very blessed. 

When you think back of your time in your career and your time in the military and in school, you have lots of happy memories. 

You were a fairly fortunate man, all things considered, right? 

I would consider myself very fortunate. You've had a very lovely... I never expected to live to 82 years old. And not only live, but thrive. Thrive with all these wonderful children and a wonderful wife. 

If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything? 

Or would you do it the same way? 

Well, I certainly didn't know what I was going to do when I started. And I would have to say that it's very satisfactory to be able to retire. and to be able to look at what Charlie has done and be proud of him and all of my children, really. And the company will go on. Will go on. This is wonderful. Would you go back to Georgia Tech again? 

Oh, yes. Georgia Tech was great. It served you well? 

It did. And I remember pleasantly all the teachers. 

And I didn't mention that my two partners, one took electrical engineer at Vanderbilt, electrical engineering, and the other, Huggins, took civil engineering at Georgia Tech. 

So we were pretty well prepared for what we did. We certainly were. We certainly were. 

Well, Georgia Tech is glad that you're part of the Tech tradition. You came to Georgia Tech along with your brothers and your son. Maybe, who knows, one of these grandchildren coming along. 

Oh, one of my grandchildren, Phillip, would love to go to Georgia Tech, and I hope he can go to Georgia Tech. We hope so, too, so that the Richard's family tradition goes on. 

We're very grateful that you came there and that you've been such a loyal supporter of Georgia Tech over the years. I'm glad to call you a friend. 

You made a lot of friends at Georgia Tech, the people that are still very important to you, obviously. Oh, I consider my friends at Georgia Tech as a great, great asset. 

Well, thank you very much for telling us your story today. It was a pleasure getting to know you through your story. Thank you, sir. Thank you. I wore my rat hat and had all the scores written on my hat and everything. The most memorable class I ever had was at 7 o'clock, Saturday morning, physics. He came in there the first day and told us, he says, I don't care.