Richard David Gaarden, age 77, of Cambridge Springs passed away peacefully in the home he shared with his wife, Bonnie, on Tuesday, October 11, 2022. Richard was born on February 25, 1945, in Palatka, Florida, the son of the late Richard Gaarden and Mary Williams Gaarden. He graduated from Lake High School in Millbury Ohio, in 1963, and worked for a summer in the Merchant Marine to pay for his college at Bowling Green University. After he left Bowling Green, he spent three years in the U.S. Navy. His life after his naval service was as adventurous and eclectic as he was: he took advanced physics classes and worked for Physics International in Paradise California, taught English in Zacatecas, Mexico, co-owned a camera store, and ran the scanning electron microscope for the Botany Department at Ohio University. It was at Ohio University that he met and married Bonnie Kuzman, and they celebrated forty-eight years of marriage. After Bonnie graduated from OU, they attended Ashland Theological Seminary together, and both graduated with M.A.s in Theology.

     In 1985, Richard and Bonnie moved to Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania, where Bonnie’s family had deep roots. Richard, as always, was a Renaissance Man, taking on every challenge and applying his creativity and problem-solving in every field that caught his interest. He owned and operated a small fleet of trucks, built an off-grid cabin, pursued celestial navigation, and worked as a precision machinist and teacher. Before he retired in 1997, he was traveling across the United States, selling and supporting high-end computer-aided manufacturing software for production machinery. He kept busy after retirement: taking on new hobbies, running his beloved tractor, and making friends and family laugh with his bad puns.  

     Richard is survived by his wife Bonnie Gaarden, his daughter Alethea Gaarden, and his aunt Jackie and uncle Richard Eaton, as well as friends and colleagues in the Cambridge Springs area. He will be missed.