Family with Davidson ties touts value of education

Donnie Richardson of Mossy Head is a successful businessman who knows the value of education. He says that Okaloosa-Walton College — now Northwest Florida State College — has been one of his best investments ever.

“OWC is very important to us,” Richardson said. His wife Sharon (who teaches the STRIDE program at Davidson Middle School) and adult sons Aaron and Matthew are, like him, are OWC alums.

“We have really fond memories of going there,” Donnie Richardson said. “We all feel it was an integral part of our educational process.”
Donnie Richardson, 49, sits on the board of the OWC Foundation. During the college’s 25th anniversary, he was named a Distinguished Alumni, an honor he relishes because he considers himself a lifelong learner. As a farmer — he grows corn, peanuts, cotton, hay, soybeans, oats and wheat on more than 2,000 acres in Mossy Head — Richardson says he is constantly readjusting his way of thinking depending on the weather, the economy, changes in technology and a whole array of other factors.

“I’m a firm believer that a good education pays off,” said Richardson, who graduated from OWC with an associate’s degree in 1978 and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of West Florida. “There’s a lot of ways my education has helped save me money and make me money. The way I see it, the more education you have, the more opportunity you have.”

Read more in the July 16 edition of the Crestview News Bulletin.