Audrey Ann Deppa Richards, age 95, of Frederic, Wisconsin, passed away on Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025, at the Burnett Medical Continuing Care Center in Grantsburg, Wisconsin. Audrey was born on Nov. 19, 1929, in St. Cloud, Minnesota, to parents Clara (Kuffel) Deppa and Michael Deppa. Her early childhood was spent with her family on a farm near Gilman, Minnesota. She was surrounded by family and friends who worked through the worst years of the Great Depression by sticking together. Audrey’s memories of this time were filled with playing with her many cousins on the farm and being a part of a supportive community. She dearly loved her parents and was proud of their deep respect for the Christian Golden Rule. She told of neighbors who made the trip to her parents’ farm to fetch water for farm animals, since her family’s well was one of the few not to dry up. When asked whether his generosity might deplete his own well, her father answered he’d just be in the same boat as them then, and they’d have to figure something out.
In 1934, the family moved off the farm to the Holy Rosary Catholic community in South Minneapolis, Minnesota. Audrey attended Catholic grade school and graduated from South High School in 1947. She enrolled at the University of Minnesota for a year and then was drawn to the era’s fashion scene. She took a job in downtown Minneapolis at Dayton Hudson. Audrey loved to tell stories about the exciting times she and her friends had traveling, dancing, and celebrating youth during a time when anything could happen. And then it did: Audrey and a friend accepted the offer from a local Buick dealer to deliver a flashy convertible to Los Angeles, California. Much to her parents’ chagrin, Audrey and a close friend set out on a life-changing adventure.
While exploring L.A., Audrey met her husband, Tom Richards, who was there on military leave. When his time with the U.S. Marines was up, he followed Audrey back to Minneapolis, where they married at Holy Rosary Church in 1953. They started their family, which grew to eight children, while living in South Minneapolis. After spending 1976-1979 in Green River, Wyoming, the couple moved their family to the Grantsburg area. Audrey loved her work as a secretary at Northern Pines social services in Siren before purchasing the Shady Knoll Rest Home with Tom. She became a certified nursing assistant, and, as successful small-business owners, they lovingly cared for elderly and challenged adults until 2004. They deservedly retired to their lake property on Spirit Lake in Frederic, which they had owned since 1968.
Audrey spent her life selflessly caring for others and sharing an abiding faith and work ethic. Many youth from Grantsburg’s Immaculate Conception parish remember her as a fun and authentic Catechism teacher during her thirty-year stretch. In her free time, Audrey loved biking, playing cards, fishing off the dock with her grandchildren, golfing with the “Grantsburg Ladies,” skiing, and traveling with Tom in their green 1972 Corvette convertible. Audrey was known for her red lipstick, babushka hair scarf, and fast driving; her Polish holiday foods; her quips about wives keeping their own “mad money” and “acting like you own” the room; her unique bonds with each grandchild; her frequent Rosary and Hail Mary prayers; her red porch-pot geraniums; and bringing people into the faith through joyous example instead of judgment.
In 2019, Audrey lost her husband of 66 years. Audrey is survived by children, Stanley (Annette) Richards, Teresa (Michael) Stein, Julie (Stephen) Wickham, Michael (Tamara) Richards, Joseph Richards, Thomas (Deidre) Richards, John (Jodi) Richards and Holly Richards; grandchildren, Matthew Richards, John (Karina) Wickham, Andrew (Britta) Wickham, Christopher (Angel) Richards, Chasten (Sara) Richards, Chelsea Richards, Sara (Timothy) Carpenter, Jacob Richards, Molly Richards, Sydney Richards, Nicholas Richards, Josephine Richards, Zoe Hoeg and Cecilia Hoeg; great-grandchildren, Jade, JJ, Dominick, Jaydon, Jaxon, Jazmine, Shaylarae, Shyla, Isabel and Landon; and many nieces, nephews, relatives and friends.
Preceding her in death were her husband, Thomas; parents, Michael and Clara Deppa; and siblings, Marilyn (Deppa) LaValle and David Deppa.
A visitation, Mass, and luncheon will be held on Saturday, Sept. 27, at the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Grantsburg, WI. Visitation will begin at 10:00 a.m. A Mass of Christian burial will be held at 11:00 a.m. with a luncheon afterwards. Interment to follow at Maple Grove Cemetery in Frederic, WI.
Arrangements have been entrusted to Swedberg-Taylor Funeral Home in Grantsburg, WI. Online condolences may be expressed at swedberg-taylor.com.
