My father passed away either late last night or in the morning's earliest hours. We're not sure. All we know for sure is that he's gone; his spirit has left his body. It appeared to be a peaceful death, likely occurring during his sleep, for which I am super grateful.
Richie (Richard) was one of the friendliest people I've ever met. Even at his age, he still had that "California cool" thing going on. He would say hi to everybody, was always willing to chat, was always laughing it up with neighbors. He was always reaching out to people, asking them if they needed help or just needed anything. He wanted to help everyone, no matter the person or the situation. He was (and still is) such a great guy.
Dad helped me out a lot personally. When I'd desperately needed to get out of a bad living arrangement, Dad dropped everything and dashed up to the Bay Area to help me jam all my stuff into a van and then drove with me practically all that night to get to Arizona and to get me moved into his house. Moving out here has been extraordinarily difficult for me and often very lonely. So whenever I needed a friend to just talk to, he would chat with me about anything and everything: the Warriors, 49ers, BYU sports, television shows like iZombie or Last Man on Earth, movies (he got some good laughs out of the new Pee Wee film on Netflix), news and so forth. He was always looking out for me and making sure I was comfortable and stuff. Dad was a pretty selfless guy.
He seemed tireless in his pursuit of serving others in any way he could. The only thing that ever stopped him was his health (those days when he was just too sick to get out of bed or do much).
His death has left a giant hole in our neighborhood, in our church community, in our lives.
I will really miss the guy.
