Richard Deatherage

The story of the last lead holder.

Back in the summer of 1979, a project that started off as an attempt by his High School Drafting Teacher to keep him from cutting class, actually put Richard Deatherage on the path to his career.

Recognizing Richard’s boredom with remedial drafting, the Teacher instead had Deatherage draft and design a new custom home plan for a friend while he was in detention. The plans turned out to be accepted by the local building department and by the tender age of sixteen, Deatherage had designed and drafted his first home and there was no looking back.

This was only the first in a line of fortuitous circumstances that shot Deatherage to the top of the Sacramento area’s building industry in the early eighties. He interned for the remainder of High School from 1980 through 1981 with a local Architect, Robert Schaffer & Associates, through the Regional Occupation Program (ROP) at San Juan High School, in Citrus Heights, CA.

Honing his drafting skills under the Architect’s instructions, he helped to draft an Apartment Complex, a tilt up Commercial office building and the commercial office spaces within, as well as the refinishes of the buildings in Cal Expo. He also entered a Custom Home design at the California State Fair in the Architectural exhibit and won the Best of Show at the high school level.

After graduation in 1981, he attended summer classes at Sierra College in Rocklin, CA. Richard wanted to become an Architect but, soon found college to be to expensive and repetitive from what he had already archived and learned as an intern. Repeating his old High School habits of cutting classes, he decided college was not for him. So, he dropping out, and decided to go out and learn to build from the ground up.

Construction was booming and Richard searched out a local builder that was hiring. He started working with very little experience as a Finish Carpenter for John Mourier Construction and was thrown into the chaos of a vary fast paced moving Residential Development. While enjoying such hands-on experience, Deatherage wasn’t about to let his creative side go to waste.

He persuaded the builder to give him a chance to draft a Custom Home plan while still being an interior finish carpenter in the field. The chance came one day while Richard was finishing the interior finishes of the builder’s custom home in Sea Ranch, CA.

Richard was called in from the construction field to the office to start drafting a Custom Home. This was the chance he was waiting for.

After that design, Richard was awarded with his ambitions in the late winter of 1982.

While most Architectural students his age were starting college, Richard Deatherage had achieved his architectural dreams by becoming the youngest Project Coordinator / Architectural Draftsman in the State of California’s history at the tender age of 20.

From 1982 through 1987, Richard was involved in the production of no fewer then two thousand homes, drafting Master Plans for 12 Residential Developments and designing many custom homes throughout Northern California in just five short years.

Benefiting by the proper business climate, the perfect storm of the economic boom of the mid 80’s and the encouragement he received from a local Developer, Richard branched out on his own.

In 1987, at the age of 24, Richard started his own Drafting Service, designing master plans for other Builders, Developers and Developments throughout Northern California. He was seeing many more of his designs built – all at a time when drafting was still being done by hand, on vellum paper, with a lead drafting pencil.

“Up close and personal with Horizon Dream homes” by Nissa Hallquist, Home Improvement & Remodeling Magazine, June 2010.

In 2009, Richard designed and drafted his last custom home, which was never to be built due to the recession at the time. This ended a 30 year run as one of the last lead holders of his generation.

With his drafting career at an end, Richard had to reinvent himself to find work to support his family and to save his home. It took 14 months, but he persisted to find a job as a finish carpenter, going back in time to the days of his youth, which gave him the strength to continue on.

Putting his old nail bags back on reminded him of the beginning of his construction career, and the enjoyment he received by being a carpenter once again.

As the years went by, Richard worked his way up to be a Construction Superintendent for larger builders, building commercial projects as large as $26 million throughout Washington, Oregon, Nevada and California.

In 2018, after the “Camp fire”, the horrendous fire that leveled Paradise, California, Richard pledged to an old friend (after he and his twin daughters lost each of their individual homes to the blaze) to volunteer and draft by hand, on vellum paper, with a lead drafting pencil, one last time.

His buddy bought a home that survived the fire nearby, with one of his daughters accepting Richard’s offer to draw their potential replacement home at no expense. They received their building permit in April of 2020 and they are living in their new home in Paradise today.

In early 2020 the COVID – 19 crisis started and Richard found himself unemployed once again. Still, in spite of the virus taking hold, he was able to find and secure a job the next week! But, once the lock-down began, the company that was set to hire Richard had their project put on hold – which forced Richard to file for unemployment.

Pulling strength from his past experience to never give up, he continued looking for work as the lock down of our county took shape. For the next month Richard was locked-down until he found a company that was hiring.

He started a new job with Hilbers Inc. today, building “Life Pointe Church” in Woodland, CA. The project started on June 4, 2020 and is still ongoing as of this writing.

Pulling strength from his past lifetime of experiences in the construction trades, Richard once again continues on with life’s ups and downs as we all do.

Today Richard suggests those who have been setback or unemployed to help volunteer in your local area to help others in this time of need and to help find contacts through the unemployment network. He advises to stay steadfast and work continuously day and night, until you find a job to survive with the unknown future we all face today.

Everyone is on a quest for fulfillment throughout their lifetime, right?

While unemployed by the recession of 2008, I was reminded of my own family’s adventures as I visited my ailing father at my parent’s home, going up and down my parent’s stairway. The walls were filled with family photos. I stopped to look at all the photos that I passed so may times years before, as a parade of memories flooded over me while reminiscing the untold stories of my youth with my parents.

Moving from Air Force base to Air Force base every four years, we lived and traveled throughout America. My father retired from the military service and moved our family to Citrus Heights, California in the summer of 1976, with the “spirit of 76” filling our minds as America celebrated its bicentennial. Once settled in California, a string of fortuitous circumstances unfolded the likes of which have have never been told, that lead me into an adventure of a lifetime.

Follow the protagonist in so many ways, through his misadventures, mistakes, wins and losses, at its nadir, find the joy and pain spending precious time at a passing father’s side…who’s final wish comes true.

Well crafted, honest and beautifully written. Fight, laugh, love, and cry at a painful and powerful story of American life, “The Last Lead Holders – Quest for Fulfillment”

Richard Deatherage is the author of “The Last Lead Holders – Quest for Fulfillment”. You can find his self published book on Amazon Kindle, or in audiobook.