I met Rick when I joined the boys gymnastics team at Alhambra H.S. (I was kicked off the girls team because I had to miss afterschool practice 2 d/wk for cheerleading practice and musical show rehearsals, but the boys coach was ok with on 4 d/wk gymnastics practice). Steve O. used to drive me to 3 hours of practice every Saturday at East LA College. Rick, Steve and I worked hard and laughed together.

I was looking forward to seeing Rick at our 50th high school reunion in May 2025 and was sad to learn Rick could not attend because of new diagnosis of cancer. So we spent the next year doing FaceTime for hours. We talked and talked. We talked about life, family, death, medical treatments. We talked extensively about his decision to proceed with surgery – he knew it carried high risk. Knowing this, he said goodbye and then was gone.