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Richard Newburn
(July 16, 2010)

Richard is a member of the Underwater Adventure Seekers Class of 2009. He is a former Marine who served in Vietnam. Richard’s love of the water began in junior high school when he nearly drowned in a Washington, D.C. public swimming pool and vowed to learn to swim. Years after becoming a proficient swimmer, Richard promised his friend, Alex Colvin, that he would come to a UAS meeting and learn to scuba dive. Richard and Alex served together in Vietnam.

After retiring, Richard came to Dunbar pool, where UAS conducts open water scuba diving classes, and dedicated himself to improving his swimming skills and learning to skin dive and scuba dive under the Club’s direction. In 2009, he successfully completed the Open Water Scuba Diving course and was awarded one of the Club’s highest honors: Best Student of the Year. He was able to achieve this distinction after having been trained by some of UAS’ most able veteran divers.

Richard received his open water scuba diving instruction from Dr. A. Jose Jones and Sly Smith. He also successfully completed this year’s annual check-out under Alex Colvin’s supervision. He skillfully performed all 40 of the club’s swimming, skin diving and scuba requirements. As a new diver, Richard has already been to 100 feet when diving in the blue waters of Cozumel, Mexico.

He remains true to promises he made to a fellow Marine while serving in Vietnam. After more than 40 years, he located friends and family of one of his Vietnam friends, and kept his promise to visit his grave and to keep his memory alive.

Richard is an energetic and enthusiastic member of the Club. When he talks about scuba diving he speaks with a big smile and he listens with great interest. There are lots of stories for him to hear and a lot of places to visit. Welcome to the Club!