Lyouba (ЛЮБА) Richards

This website serves as a living memorial to our dearest Lyouba (Luba, ЛЮБА, Lucy) Richards who left her body on Friday March 27, 2020 at 10pm.

Even though she's no longer with us, we feel and hold her Spirit close. 

We kindly encourage you to post here picture memories and tributes to Luba so that we may together celebrate the incredible love she gifted the world and everyone she met. Thank you. 

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Luba represented what it means to be heart centred. The origin of this expression housed deep in the love she shared with her husband John (JR), whom she first met in 1972 after coming to work part-time in his popular Melbourne restaurant, Mr Bulls Steakhouse.

Luba and John were destined to live a long and happy life together. And so they did. A life filled with love, laughter, adventure, travel and fine food and wine. 

After a long courtship, Luba and John finally married on Saturday April 19, 1980. It was a beautiful and intimate ceremony held at the home of Luba’s older sister Halyna Lee in Perth, Western Australia. Other witnesses to their union included Halyna’s husband Kush and Luba and John’s two young sons Clinton and Jason.

In 1981 the couple and their two boys moved to Tasmania to begin an exciting new chapter as a family. And in 1982, their third child Lydia was born.

The Richards family motto: "as one we are none, as five we are one" was a true testament to Luba and John's love for their precious family unit.

Upon moving to Tasmania, Luba and John opened “The Gourmand” (1981-1984), a French-Modern cuisine restaurant in Northern Tasmania’s Tamar Valley wine region. The restaurant and family home overlooked the magnificent Tamar River. During this time, Luba learned to cook under the expert tutelage of her husband John, who by then was an accomplished chef. Luba described this time as “the greatest adventure and some of the best years of my life.”  A vineyard was planted to surround the restaurant which became Loch-Lea Vineyard and so began 18+ years of making some superb cool climate Tasmanian Pinot Noir.

In 1984, the couple closed the restaurant and joined forces at the Launceston Convention Centre; Luba as Head Chef and John as General Manager. In her role Luba headed up a kitchen of four chefs and six kitchen hands and was responsible for putting together dinners for up to 1000 people in the great Albert Hall while also running a 60-seat restaurant and a 100-seat bistro.

Those who knew John and Luba will remember them for their incredible generosity of spirit and wonderful dinner parties in Tasmania and, in more recent years, Melbourne. Back in Tassie, one of their most celebrated events on the Richards calendar was Loch Lea vineyard’s annual grape picking lunch! 

In 1991, the couple founded Conference-Plus Australia, a successful event management business that flourished until John passed away in 2012. During this time, Luba and John together managed countless large events and conferences across the country. A particularly remarkable part of their business included the management of functions and events for the international tarmac rally, Targa Tasmania.

One of Luba’s greatest traits was her incredible worth ethic. She applied this to a number of careers throughout her life including her 10+ year stint at the Australian Taxation Office and in partnership with John. 

Luba felt the loss of her beloved Johnin 2012 deeply. In the final years of her life, Luba had come alive to a happy life without her husband. The “fog was finally starting to clear” for Luba and her smile was  shining as bright as it had with John at her side. Luba’s most beloved were so proud of how far she had come despite having to scale a mountain of grief due the loss of her Mother and then Husband in 2011 and 2012 respectively. 

Luba was innately shy but thanks to her years as a professional events manager and encouragement from her incredibly outgoing husband, she had blossomed into a social butterfly who loved meeting and getting to know people. A master networker, Luba’s genuine curiosity for others lived as an unmistakable spark in her eyes.  Her daughter Lydia would joke that her Mother had a better social life than she did! Luba’s friends, and she had many, gave her the encouragement she needed to venture back out into the world and her children and grandchildren gave her something to live for. 

Luba loved laughing, dancing, preparing food for others and dining out and drinking fine wine and expensive Champagne not to mention a good soft cheese to-boot! She always looked a million bucks and took great pride in how she presented herself. She loved red lippy and nail polish! 

Luba took great pride in her garden she had cultivated at her Bundoora home but would always joke there were a few plants she couldn’t quite get to thrive! 

For Luba, everything was about love and everything and everyone was love.

She was a selfless being who lived in deep service to others... including in her final years, the wonderful residents of Eltham Cottages who she cared for so deeply.

Luba also loved her dear Ukrainian community. A close-knit family with whom she socialised with regularly. After her dear Mother Helen (Olena Frolovich) passed away in 2011, Luba saw it as her responsibility to continue her Mum's legacy at the Church. Her Mother's faith was important to Luba and she upheld it best she could. 

Luba also spent a number of years in Melbourne caring for her gorgeous Mother Helen. She was a dedicated and caring daughter who was an incredible advocate for her mum’s health. 

An undeniable and often unspoken love in Luba’s life was that of her father Leonid Frolovich who left the world suddenly when Luba was just 17. Luba often talked about how close she was to her dear father and how his memory lived on in her heart. 

Up until her passing, Luba continued to nurture wonderful friendships from the different phases of her life including her:

• Early childhood and primary education in Geelong 
• Education at Merrilands High School (Keilor) and then Footscray Technical College 
• Employment at the Australian Taxation Office
• Time as a restaurateur in Melbourne and Tasmania
• Time as an apprentice and eventually head chef in Tasmania 
• Work as a Conference and Event Manager in Tasmania + Australia-wide
• Work in Aged Care back in her home state of Victoria 

Everyone who knew Luba loved her and she loved them back with her whole heart. She has left an imprint of kindness, warmth, laughter and joy on this world. 

We are better people for having known her.

Mum, Luba, ЛЮБА, Lucy...your presence in this world will be missed dearly but we find solace in knowing we are eternally connected and that you live on in the bounty of our hearts.