1926 – 2024 Naomi Jean (Sloan) Richards, 97, passed away peacefully with Family by her side, on Friday, April 12th, in Gilbert, Arizona.  She was born May 20, 1926, to Clara & Ernest Sloan at Naeve Hospital in Albert Lea, Minnesota.

Naomi Jean Richards

Naomi grew up on the Orchard Hill Dairy Farm just southeast of Ellendale, Minnesota.  She attended Elementary, Junior High and High School in Ellendale, graduating from High School there in 1944.  That fall, she entered the Naeve Hospital School of Nursing in Albert Lea, Minnesota for 3 years, which included 3-month course affiliations each at the St. Peter Psychiatric Hospital and the Gillette State Hospital in St. Paul, Minnesota for orthopedics.  Naomi graduated in 1947 as a Registered Nurse and then worked on the Medical Floor at Naeve Hospital.  Later she worked at the St. John’s Nursing Home in Albert Lea until she retired from nursing.

Naomi met her husband, Albert Richards, on a blind date and was married for 68 years before he passed in 2017.  In 1978, they moved from Albert Lea to Salt Lake City where she worked part-time in the Sears phone room taking orders.  After Albert retired from Benson Optical, they moved to Happy Trails Resort in Surprise, Arizona in 1987, where they greatly enjoyed their retirement, the pools and meeting many new friends.  For fun, she took a part-time job for a few months at Walmart working in the school supply section where a very thankful customer once expressed his appreciation for her help with “Thank you Mrs. Walmart”.

Naomi enjoyed flowers and had beautiful flower gardens in Albert Lea and Salt Lake City.  Her Family remembers going with to Glenville for gladiolus at 50 cents a dozen and walking ditches to gather milkweed, cattails, bittersweet and pussywillows for her.  She also enjoyed reading, walking, RV camping, fishing, Arizona Cardinals, Phoenix Suns, lemon pie, plum wine, strawberry margaritas and spending time with Family, Friends and their pet cats & dogs.  She was a very happy, loving mother and friend who will be greatly missed by many.

Naomi was preceded in death by her beloved son, Allan Richards, husband Albert, parents Clara and Ernest, brothers Charles Sloan, baby Sloan and Donald Sloan; niece Debra Zak, Nephew Gary Richards and in-laws Bonnie Sloan, Dick & Alice Richards, Doris & Harold Redman, Naomi & Eldon Farner and Dennis Richards.

She is survived by three daughters, Pat (Jerry) Kenison in Nebraska, Mary (Bill) Motz in Arizona and Barb (Rick) Hargis in Utah; eight grandchildren Kristen, Megan, Morgan, Collin, Zach, Nick, Sierra, Challis and seventeen great-grandchildren; as well as several cousins, nieces, nephews; in-laws Larry & Mary Richards, Dorene Richards, Linda & Vernie Stieglbauer and Friends, including a “bonus daughter”, Judi Greengo Celano in Arizona.

Interment will be scheduled at a later date at the Geneva Cemetery.