RICHARD PLATER, JR. Obituary: Lafourche Parish, La. Submitted by: Louis Lavedan Source: Daily Comet, Thibodaux, Lafourche Parish, La. 1 Jan 2005 ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** NOTES: 1. The date preceding the obituary is the date of posting on the WWW, not the date of death. ================================ December 29. 2004 3:11PM Richard Plater Jr. Richard Cheatham Plater Jr., 96, a native of Nashville, Tenn., and resident of Thibodaux, died Dec. 25, 2004. A memorial service will be held at 10:30 a.m. Jan. 8 at St. John's Episcopal Church in Thibodaux. Burial will be at Old Chapel Cemetery in Clarke County, Va., at a later date. He is survived by his sons, Ormonde Plater of New Orleans and David D. Plater of Thibodaux; six grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren He was preceded in death by his parents, Richard C. Sr. and Anna Gay Butler Plater; first wife, Eleanore Leake Plater of Williamstown, Mass., second wife, Pamela Robinson Plater of New Orleans. He graduated from Williams College, Mass., and worked in the banking field, as a movie director, a claims adjuster for an insurance company, a psychoterapist in Boston and for the National Labor Relations Board as a labor dispute settler in Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama before moving to Thibodaux to manage the family sugarcane plantation in 1940. He was parish director of the American Red Cross in Lafourche Parish during World War II. He served as an area council member for the Boy Scouts of America, receiving the Silver Beaver award in 1960. He was Lafourche Parish Director of Civil Defense for many years. He was a member of the Thibodaux Regional Planning Commission and was a charter founder of Public Affairs Council and of Council for a Better Louisiana. In addition to being a longtime current member of the Boston Club of New Orleans, he formerly belonged to one of the oldest Carnival organizations in that city. He was a member of the Lafourche Heritage Society and of Louisiana Landmarks. During the 1960s and 1970s, he led the work of a historic water operated grain mill that had been built by Gen. Daniel Morgan just after the American Revolution. He received much recognition for his efforts in local history in the Shenandoah Valley locale of Clarke County, Va., where he kept a summer home until recently. He also was a member of the Piedmont Council and benefactor of Shenandoah University in Winchester, Va., of Williams College, Massachusetts and of the Van Lennup Foundation of Clarke County. He was a former member of the Board of the Kenmore Association of Fredericksburg, Va., the site of an ancestral Kenmore home built by Fielding Lewis and Betty Washington Lewis. He also made significant contributions of family documents to the Historic New Orleans Collection, New Orleans, and to the Hill Memorial Special Collections at LSU. Donations in memory of Richard C. Plater Jr. may be made to the St. John's Episcopal Church and Cemetery Endowment Fund, 718 Jackson St., Thibodaux, LA 70301; the Historic New Orleans Collection, 533 Royal St., New Orleans, LA 70116; or the LSU Foundation for the Hill Memorial Library Special Collections Division, Baton Rouge, LA 70803. December 30. 2004 2:12PM Longtime resident Plater dies at 96 By Katina A. Gaudet South Lafourche Bureau Richard Plater [Photo] Those who knew Richard "Dick" Plater Jr. remember him as a kind and loving family man, a good friend and dedicated public servant. A native of Nashville, Tenn., and a longtime resident of the Thibodaux area, Plater, 96, died Christmas morning. A man with varied interests that were reflected in his career background, Plater moved to Thibodaux in 1940 to manage the family sugarcane plantation, Acadia Plantation, and during his subsequent years here managed to contribute much to his adopted community, family and friends recalled. His efforts stemmed from a sense of community and a desire to see his own community do well. "I think Thibodaux was extremely important to him," said Nyada deGravelles, who, along with her late husband, Norbert "Nobby" deGravelles, counted Plater and his late wife, Pam, as friends. Plater, in fact, was one of the first people the newly married deGravelles met when she moved to Thibodaux after her marriage almost 58 years ago. "He's done a lot for the community, and he was a very wonderful gentleman," added deGravelles. "He came here as a young man. He wasn't from here, but he wanted to see Thibodaux grow and prosper." Before his move to Thibodaux, Plater worked in banking, as a movie director, a claims adjuster for an insurance company, a psychotherapist in Boston and as a labor dispute settler for the National Labor Relations Board in Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama. In Thibodaux, his work extended beyond managing the family farm. Plater was parish director of the American Red Cross in Lafourche during World War II, the parish's director of civil defense for many years, a member of the Thibodaux Regional Planning Commission and a charter founder of Public Affairs Council and Council for a Better Louisiana. He was also interested in the younger generation, serving as an area council member for the Boy Scouts of America, receiving the Silver Beaver award in 1960. Family friend Dorothy "Dot" Pugh said Plater was a longtime member of the St. John's Episcopal Church community. Pugh and her husband, John, became close friends with Plater and his wife after the Pughs moved to the area following World War II. "They were just very wonderful to us, and that friendship lasted through the years," said Pugh. "He was just so good to everyone, just a kindhearted man." Son David Plater recalls his father in much the same manner, as a man who was dedicated to family - a loving father, grandfather and great-grandfather, but also a man who was loyal to friends and business associates. Wilfred Hebert of Schriever rented land from the elder Plater for many years, land on which he, too, planted and harvested sugarcane, a profession his father had embraced before him. Hebert, who knew Plater for most of his life, remembers him as a man willing to accommodate his tenants. "If we asked him for something, he would give it to us," said Hebert. "For a man that had a big place like that, he was all right. He was a nice man." In ill health the past few years of his life, the elder Plater was also always appreciative of life and its gifts. "He always said, 'thank you,'" said David Plater of his father. "Even when he couldn't speak it, he would say it with his eyes." A memorial service for Plater will be held at 10:30 a.m. Jan. 8 at St. John's Episcopal Church in Thibodaux. Visitation will begin at 9 a.m. at the church. Katina A. Gaudet can be reached at 693-6319 or 448-7614 or by e-mail at katina.gaudet@dailycomet.com.