05/21/2026
heaven gained a strong angel 🤍
if you know me, you know about rich. i don’t think there’s been a conversation over the past 7 years where i haven’t found a way to bring him up.
when i moved into my house, i was a young twenty-something woman living alone for the first time. i can’t pretend i wasn’t nervous or scared at times. but that fear was greatly diminished because somehow, i hit the neighbor jackpot and was sandwiched between two incredible men - one of them being rich.
i believe it was my first or second weekend in my house when we had a terrible storm and lost power. i walked outside to check the damage when all of a sudden i heard, “did you lose power too?” i swear to god, i thought the voice was coming from heaven itself. turns out, it was just rich yelling through the screen of his bedroom upper window.
i met rich when he was 93 years old, so you can imagine the stories i had the privilege of hearing - raising six children, owning a service station in oak park, starting t-ball in elmhurst, even having a shot with the chicago cubs. but there’s one line he said that will stay with me forever.
he was telling me about receiving a full-ride basketball scholarship to depaul, and when i asked why he never ended up going then, he simply said, “i got sidetracked.” when i asked what by, he responded proudly and matter-of-factly: “to fight for our country.”
fighting in world war ii for the united states was no “sidetrack,” but that was rich. humble, understated, and selfless to his core.
he never knew it, but i came to rely on his presence as a source of comfort, safety, and security. every time i left my driveway, i’d yell to myself in the car, “rich, i’m going here!” or “rich, i’m going there!” to me, it was comforting for him to “know” where i was going, and comforting for me to know he was home waiting for me - even though he had absolutely no idea. and every time i watched his impala slowly creep down the street, i held my breath until i saw him safely return home.
i will never truly be able to explain the impact he had on my life. the stories he shared, the wisdom he taught us, the love we felt.
