Richard Testrake

Richard Testrake graduated from Strong Vincent High School and then joined the Pennsylvania National Guard in June of 1957. By the spring of 1958, he joined the U.S. Army and became a member of the "Old Guard," which escorted the President. He was also an air traffic controller in Korea for some time before being discharged in 1963. During his time in Korea, he and his wife adopted their daughter Lisa, and at the time, were the youngest couple in U.S. Immigration history to adopt and bring back a child from Korea.

He worked at General Electric for 37 and a half years as a welder. In retirement, Richard was a novelist of historical fiction tales set during the Napoleonic Wars. He volunteered at the both the VA Medical Center and the Erie Public Library. Richard was a life member of the Old Guard Association, the GE Retiree's Association, and Friends of the Erie County Library.