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Retired Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Richard James Hunter Sr.
A retired law enforcement officer from Palatka is being remembered as someone who brought smiles to people’s faces and treated everyone he met with respect.
Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Richard James Hunter Sr. died Nov. 4 at Haven Hospice Roberts Care Center in Palatka. He was 78.
Hunter leaves behind a wife, three children and community members who mourn his death.
“I will always remember the day my father passed away as it was the same day he walked me down the aisle 23 years ago,” his daughter, Tiffeny Hunter Cross, said Thursday.
Richard Hunter Sr. made history as the first Black FHP trooper to work in Putnam County, according to his family. He worked for the agency for 25 years, winning numerous awards, his obituary states.
Richard Hunter Jr. said he has had people stopping by his Palatka residence all week to honor his father and pay their respects to his family. He recalled how one of his father’s former colleagues told a story Wednesday about how kindly the former trooper treated everyone at work, whether they were in training or a veteran on the job.
“He was a leader. He was someone who set the standard for the rest of us to follow,” Richard Hunter Jr. said. “So many troopers in this area went into highway patrol because of him.”
While Putnam County Sheriff’s Office Col. Joe Wells didn’t work for FHP, he said he has fond memories of the former trooper. Wells said Richard Hunter Sr. was his go-to guy when responding to traffic crashes.
“What I remember most fondly is that he would never pass a traffic stop that I or any other law enforcement officer was on without stopping to check on us,” Wells said. “He was the epitome of a professional law enforcement officer and someone I learned a great deal from in the beginning of my career.”
Echoing those thoughts, Sheriff Gator DeLoach said the former trooper's absence will be felt beyond Putnam County.
Throughout the region, DeLoach said, law enforcement officers looked toward Richard Hunter Sr. to see an example of how to behave on and off the job.
“Richard was not only a good friend, but a wonderful man, example to this community, fantastic state trooper and legend in our county,” DeLoach said. “He is a hometown hero in my eyes and is an example for others to follow in his footsteps. The imprint he left on this area is immeasurable and his loss will be felt across the entire North Florida region.”
Richard Hunter Sr.’s children said their father liked keeping the community safe and helped out in other ways. Cross said he liked to garden and often grew vegetables he would give out to residents.
Leon Hunter, the former law enforcement officer’s youngest child, misses his father terribly, he said Tuesday. Richard Hunter Sr. gave Leon a different life, one he’s grateful to have, he added.
When Leon Hunter was about 6, Phyllis Delores Hunter and Richard Hunter Sr. adopted him. Leon said his parents had finished raising Cross and Richard Hunter Jr., who both went to college.
“They could have just pretty much rode off into the sunset, you know, and just done whatever they wanted to do,” Leon Hunter said. “And, instead, they took a leap of faith on me and invested in me so much.”
He remembers his father as a quiet person who never raised his voice, taught him a lot and treated the Hunter matriarch like a queen.
The youngest son said some of his favorite memories include sitting in his father’s patrol car after his dad would come home from work and watching his father fill out his FHP reports. Leon remembers his father as a jokester, even with people he may have ticketed, and as a man of quiet strength, a quality he didn’t understand until he had children of his own.
Leon Hunter has a son and a daughter, who was born one month and a day before Richard Hunter Sr. died. He said he would always take the lessons he learned from his father and use them to raise his own children.
“I’m just grateful that he chose to be my dad and gave me an opportunity at a life I never would have had without him,” Leon said.
A visitation for Richard Hunter Senior will be from 5–7 p.m. today at Mt. Tabor First Baptist Church, 4909 St. Johns Ave. in Palatka.
His funeral service will be from 2–3:15 p.m. Saturday at Mt.Tabor, and a graveside service will take place at 3:30 p.m. that day at Oak Hill East Cemetery, 712 S. Palm Ave. in Palatka.
