The Austin City Council presented a Key to the City to Richard Lemons during its regular meeting Monday evening,

Lemons was nominated by the Austin Human Rights Commission, an organization he formerly chaired.

“You always knew that you could count on Richard to have a smile on his face and work tirelessly to get the job done,” said AHRC Chairman Jason Baskin. “His ‘can do’ attitude and approachability allowed him to consistently connect with diverse groups of people to improve Austin in big ways and small.”

Lemons served on numerous organizations, including the Austin Symphony Orchestra Board, the Austin Poverty Task Force, the Steering Committee, APEX Austin, and many others.

“This work has improved our community in countless ways through things like Community Conversations, individual mentoring, the first ever ‘Community Connect’ event to fight poverty and immeasurable small acts of kindness to lend a helping hand to those when they needed it most,” Baskin said.

“I’m really, deeply grateful for the recognition,” Lemons said. “It wasn’t something I expected or that I was working toward.”

There are a lot of things that people can do as a volunteer in this town that bring a lot of joy as you do them,” he told the council.

Lemons and wife Catherine will be leaving Austin at the end of July to be closer to their children and grandchildren.

Lemons said that, despite the other moves they’ve made, this is the first time he feels they are “leaving community.”

“It’s going to be very difficult to leave it behind,” he said.

Mayor Tom Stiehm spoke highly of Lemon, telling him, “It’s going to be painful to lose you. You really have made a difference in our town.”

“Richard is what makes Austin Austin,” he added.