NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Coming to the Franklin Farmer's Market for well over 20 years, Stader Richardson has stories.
"I tell ya. I could eat at 17 different places here, and I have!" Richardson laughed. "My wife and I spent many a Saturday morning here!"
Richardson's wife, Frances Richardson, had a favorite at the farmer's market. It was over at Lucy's Kitchen; those orange rolls.
"She loved that orange!" Richardson said.
What can we say? Lucy makes a mean orange roll.
"She's a retired school administrator," Richardson continued, talking about his wife."[Orange rolls] were the only thing that could get her out of bed on a Saturday morning!"
Frances and Stader Richardson's mornings at the Franklin Farmer's Market started a few years after they reconnected on Facebook. They were from the same hometown in Louisiana.
"I said, 'of course I remember you!'" Richardson said, remembering that Facebook connection. "I used to embarrass her, telling her she was the prettiest girl in our hometown. How could I not remember you! We were together about eleven years. We called each other our reward. We just decided this would be our time, and we had a great decade. I mean. The best."
In 2022, Frances Richardson died of an aneurysm. Richardson still loves talking to people about his wife.
"'Oh, let's not say Frances. That'll make him sad,'" Richardson said, talking to someone who'd stopped to talk. "You say Frances, I'm like, 'yeah! Let's talk!' When you go through the grief, you know the words!"
At one of his wife's favorite places, near her favorite orange rolls, Richardson is doing something in memory of his wife.
"If you have felt the close kind of grief that takes your breath, these cards mean a lot," Richardson explained.
Richardson has started Shades of Grief Cards. His niece sketches the art for the cards. Richardson writes the messages.
"When you feel like you may not be strong enough, please let me share my strength with you."
"On our quiet days, we miss them a little louder."
They're words from someone who understands grief.
"People say, 'oh, there are no words.' There are words," Richardson said. "Someone opens that up, and it's two years since they died, and you see somebody's written to you, it's impactful."
In addition to events like the Franklin Farmer's Market, Richardson's selling the cards here.
I wanted to ask Richardson. What would his wife think of this being a part of her legacy?
"Oh! That's tough for me to answer," he nodded. "I'm sure she's smiling. I think that'd be the ultimate legacy is that people who have isolated themselves in their grief would have someone join them for a minute or two."
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
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