James Vail said his brother took the woman in off the streets. She was homeless and didn’t wish to reveal her identity.
“She remained largely a mystery to Richard,” James Vail said.
Why did Richard Vail invite a homeless woman to live with him, rent-free?
“Because that’s the type of person he was,” James Vail said. “He was selfless.” So selfless, he said, that the woman slept in his brother’s bed while Richard Vail took the floor.
James Vail said that his brother didn’t pester his roommate about her identity or possible family. In the last several weeks before she died, Richard Vail told his brother that the woman was sick, but James Vail said he didn’t know the extent of her illness.
Richard Vail died in February of natural causes. He was 76.