Richard Lee "Red" Nolder

Richard L. “Red” Nolder, 81, passed away peacefully on July 14, 2024, at UPMC Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh. 

Red was born on October 12, 1942 to Milford C. and Freda A. (Beck) Nolder in DuBois, PA. He attended Punxsutawney High School and was a talented point guard on Chuck Daly’s varsity basketball team. He married Joanie Sprankle in 1971 and they moved to Greenwich, NY, where he was a 10th grade history teacher for more than thirty years. Red was an extraordinary teacher and coach who touched the lives of thousands of students over the course of his career. If a club needed an advisor, or a dance needed a chaperone, he was the one who volunteered. He regaled his students with stories of the groundhog and encouraged his athletes with passion and kindness. 

Red loved Saratoga Springs, and especially the Saratoga race track. He loved sports and his garden, ice cream and medium-rare steaks, and his family and friends. To know him was a gift, and he will be dearly missed.

He is survived by his wife of 53 years, Joan (Sprankle) Nolder, of Punxsutawney, daughters Michelle Nolder of Manhattan, New York and Tracy Pike and her husband, Richard, of Cape Elizabeth, Maine, and grandchildren Jayden Link; and Alice, Romilly and Thomas Pike. He is also survived by much loved brothers-in law, Billy Sprankle (Pam) and Gary Sprankle (Joanne), and sister-in-law Jeanie Daugherty along with numerous nieces, nephews and great nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents and brother-in-law, Larry Daugherty. 

A memorial gathering and celebration of life will be held on Monday from 9:30 AM until the time of service at 11:00 AM at the Grace United Methodist Church, 61 Hillcrest Drive, Punxsutawney, PA 15767, with Rev. Richard Pike and Rev. Edward Bach officiating. 

Memorial donations may be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

To offer condolences or share a memory, please visit www.mccabewaldronfh.com .