My Brother Rich left this earthly life last night. It wasn’t unexpected, his health has been failing for several years. I went through my pictures of our early life together in Provo and relived many memories.
His life began on July 8, 1950 in Provo, Utah. Being the first child of eight, he carried into this life the responsibility of being the older brother.
He spent his first years in Provo where Dad was finishing up his school at BYU. When Dad got a teaching position in Escalante, he moved the family to Escalante where Richard began his schooling. Our Grandmother Ruth was his kindergarten teacher and our Grandfather Lorenzo was the principal. After several years Dad moved the family back to Provo where Richard attended the rest of his school years.
Richard would return to Escalante many times with family to visit Grandpa and Grandma in Escalante.
Richard spent many summers with our Grandparents. He bonded with them and felt like they were his second parents.
I had my differences with him and on more than one occasion sibling rivalry caused Dad to come down to the basement and settle a dispute. This rivalry continued into High School until one day after a particularly rough teasing, I had enough. I landed a lucky punch and knocked him out cold. I got scared and left, later when I came back we didn’t say anything to each other but the tension eased and we were able to get along better.
He was three years older than I so I never caught up with him in Jr. High or High School.
As he got ready for his mission I got ready to take over our shared room and claim it as my own.
He went to the Philippines for two years where he served a mission for the church. It was his chance to experience life in a place where he was taller than most of the people around him. He discovered his skills of salesmanship and his early training in the church helped him to be a successful missionary.
It wasn’t long after he got back from his mission that I was preparing for my own mission. I asked him to look after my piranha fish while I was gone. One day it jumped out and died. When I got home it was in the freezer waiting for me.
We shared an apartment with several other guys who were working and single. I tagged along when they serenaded the girls with guitar music, hoping to find that special girl.
Rich and his friend Ron decided to open an aquarium store and sell fish. It was there that I used my skills with glass to repair and build aquariums for him. I traded my skills and time for fish.
We both attended a BYU branch in Orem where he met Teresa. I could tell he liked her but he was shy and didn’t want to call her.
I took care of that when I called her and pretended to be Rich and asked her out on a date.
That date became many and soon the plans were set for a wedding.
I helped set up aquariums filled with fish for their reception and then took them down after.
Soon after I met my wife and got married and moved to California.
Rich and I drifted apart, our family life began, but we reconnected at reunions, marriages and deaths.
We kept a closeness over the years and there were times when conversations would continue long into the night.
He wasn’t afraid to ask me hard questions and I always seemed to challenge his beliefs.
He remained strong in the church but had his struggles with life and the choices he made.
He and Teresa came to Escalante to visit me in October. I could see that he was struggling with his health. His body was shutting down and it was difficult for
Teresa to manage his care.
We talked about life and death.
I asked hard questions about death and the challenges that lie ahead for both of them.
We talked into the night, again. It was during these times that I felt close to the heavens and I could feel family there with us too.
Richard was close with Grandpa and Grandma Lorenzo. I know that they are exchanging stories and are helping him to transition from this life into the next. I know that Dad was waiting there too.
Richard will linger here for a while. He will watch as family gather to share and tell stories. He will listen as we laugh and cry. He will be in attendance at the funeral as we gather to celebrate his life. He will be with us to comfort us.
As the veil of forgetfulness begins to lift from his mind, he will remember the magnificence of his being, he will remember his past life with our Heavenly Parents. His former knowledge will be returned and he will have an opportunity to see this earth in a whole new perspective. Not as a place of struggle or difficulty, but as a marvelous learning and growing experience.
He will add this lifetime to his understanding and will continue on his path toward an eternal life with family and friends in his own little bit of Heaven.
I will miss you Richard. We are again separated in this life but we will meet again, and who knows what adventures still await us.
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