Richard (Dickie) Shannon Pollard, Sr.

Richard (Dickie) Shannon Pollard, Sr. was born in Franklin, TN on June 3rd,1945 and passed away on April 17th, 2024. He was preceded in death by parents, Jerry Newton Pollard & Virginia Pettigrew Pollard, brother, Jerry Newton Pollard, Jr., and his wife of 59 years, JoAnn Arnold Pollard. He is survived by his children, Michelle Pollard & Richard Shannon Pollard, Jr. (Kristin Russell), grandchildren, Katie Pollard, Jack Pollard, Rowan Pollard and Ben Johns, nephews and niece, Mike Pollard, Julie Pollard Bridges, Craig Pollard and many cousins, godchildren, close friends and classmates from Battleground Academy(class of 1963),Vanderbilt University (class of 1967),Phi Kappa Sigma and airmen he served with in the Tennessee Air National Guard.

Richard Pollard loved growing up in Franklin, TN. It was his Mayberry and his cornerstone. He rode his bike through the cemeteries that held family going back to the creation of Williamson County. His father was a foreman and salesman at Dortch Stoveworks at what is now The Factory in Franklin and later Lasko, so with modest means, it was with great sacrifice that he and his brother attended and graduated from BGA and Vanderbilt. While in high school, Richard worked at various jobs saving up for car but the job he
cherished was working as a DJ at WIZO radio (later WAKM) where he revived routine scoldings for slipping in the rock and roll records that would anchor his lifelong love of music.

During this time, he also had two great loves, his blue 1958 Chevy convertible and his soon to be wife, JoAnn. After college, Richard joined the Tennessee Air National Guard and entered the workforce in mortgage banking and commercial real estate and appraisal which be his career until his retirement
from the Williamson County Assessors Office in 2009.

Richard was a truly unique individual who earned the right to be described affectionately as a proper “character”, though he may have disagreed with that label while secretly loving it. He could be a man of contrast whose traits sometimes seemed incongruent. As a legendary curmudgeon, he could always
be counted upon for his quick wit, loud laugh while his generosity and honesty knew no bounds.

An avid sports fan, he wasn’t ever an athlete, but he was a high school cheerleader and yearbook editor. With his usual self deprecated humor, Richard loved to claim that he was a “javelin catcher” on high school track
team. Although never an official hobby, he obsessively collected sales receipts like one collects baseball cards and he also mentally catalogued the information printed on the record labels of his prized record collection. He always wanted to be a pilot and he started at Navy ROTC, but his eyes didn’t agree, so it was a beloved inside family joke that he wound up as a tail gunner in a B-52, which obviously didn’t happen. Instead, he recounted epic combat with office equipment in the epic “Battle of Berry Field, TNANG”.
Richard possessed incredible mathematical ability and analytical skills, yet the process assembling small appliances could generate volcanic eruptions of colorful language that traveled much further than just the small confines of the garage. Electric can openers and weedeaters seemed to be the usual culprits. He could simultaneously be introverted and extroverted, stubborn, yet gracious and as a dedicated lover of rock, Motown and soul was also infatuated with early, mid and late Olivia Newton John records.

Richard wasn’t the literary type but his encyclopedic knowledge of all thing’s music, film and tv is legendary and that was a trait he graciously passed to his children and grandchildren. He was a hard worker would do anything for his family who were his priority even on his very last day. Dickie Pollard didn’t
ask for much, but he had contentment knowing he was connected to generations of family who had lived, worked and died Franklin, TN, which he was a legacy he continued.

Visitation will be held on Thursday May 30th from 11-1 at The Franklin Theater with service immediately. Flowers are accepted as are donations to the Air Force Museum or to the Musicians Hall of Fame. To learn more about Richard Pollard’s musical tastes, please use this link to listen to his playlist:
https://apple.co/4aBiQF9