Richard “Bill” Littlefield knew Georgia politics, law and Hawaiian-themed shirts.
An attorney and former state senator, Mr. Littlefield was habitually a very serious man. But he also enjoyed extended periods of laughter that provided great balance, his family said.
“He could be really playful,” said Stephanie Littlefield, a daughter who lives in Seattle. “Those are times I think we will always cherish.”
"He didn't shy away from a good time," added Maj. R. Wells Littlefield, III, a son who is home on leave from military service in Afghanistan.
It was during family trips to the Virgin Islands that Mr. Littlefield began to collect tropical shirts, his family said. He enjoyed them so much that he and his wife, Beverly Littlefield, began throwing an annual winter party with a summer dress code.
“By February, you’d made it through the holidays, but there was still this cold weather,” Mrs. Littlefield said. “So we’d tell them to put on their Hawaiian shirts and come to the party and we’d get through this winter together. Bill loved that sort of thing.”
Richard Wells Littlefield Jr., called Bill by many, of Sandy Springs, died at his home Friday, from complications of congestive heart failure. He was 63.
His body was cremated and a memorial service is planned for 3 p.m. Friday at H.M. Patterson & Son, Spring Hill, which is also in charge of arrangements.
A Georgia native, Mr. Littlefield was educated in the public schools of Jesup and Wayne counties. He earned his undergraduate degree from Emory University in 1970 and his law degree from the University of Georgia in 1973.
Early in his career, Mr. Littlefield served as assistant district attorney for the Brunswick Judicial Circuit. He lived on St. Simons Island and was a state senator from 1979 until 1982, representing then-District 6. During his time as a senator, Mr. Littlefield was vice chairman of the judiciary committee, secretary of the insurance committee, served on the Governor's committee on juvenile justice, the Governor's committee on constitutional Revision and on the Georgia code revision commission.
“He was proud of being a part of the General Assembly during a time in which true bipartisanship was possible,” his wife said. “A lifelong Democrat, Bill nonetheless worked across the aisle in the spirit of making Georgia a better state.”
In 1983 he moved to the Atlanta area and specialized in worker’s compensation law, working for various firms. In 1999 Mr. Littlefield got a chance to get back on the legislative side of the law when he became the late Sen. René Kemp’s legal advisor for the Senate Judiciary Committee. He later served as the executive counsel to then-Lt. Governor Mark Taylor and then as the director of the joint senate information and research offices.
When Mr. Littlefield was in politics, his children said, he was happiest.
“He had a definite spark in his eye during that time,” Maj. Littlefield said.
“He felt like he was directly contributing to change,” added Ms. Littlefield. “And I think that is really what made him tick.”
In 1997, Mr. Littlefield, a divorcé, met and married the former Beverly Rheney. Though the couple did not have children, they enjoyed a “beautifully blended family,” Mrs. Littlefield said.
“He was a wonderful family man,” Mrs. Littlefield said. “And we often did things with the children, their mother and her husband, and it was just wonderful.”
In addition to his wife, son and daughter, Mr. Littlefield is also survived by another daughter, Lindsey L. Lieber, of Charlotte; sister, Mary Catherine L. Amerine, of North Augusta, S.C.; and one granddaughter.
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