Hello Abes,

I am so grateful for having spent a good portion of my childhood playing with Rick. In addition to always being kind and sweet, he was an inventive and a natural performer, mugging for the camera, supplying a witty comment, endlessly creative in an organic way. He was a born leader in a very subtle and inclusive way. Reflecting back, I think he was the mastermind behind so many of our excursions into pretend, but in a way that invited the rest of us to fully contribute to the whole. He didn’t take over the room, but made us all want to be in it with him. I remember our time together as full of antics, crazy low risk subversion when the grownups were absent, making up songs and comedy routines. I imagine you’ve heard of our “Curve Muffin” show, loosely modeled on the popular “Merv Griffen” TV show. As Curve, Rick would question the television panel, and we would respond to his deeply silly questions.

He taught us rudimentary Japanese greetings, made us crack up with his “beard talk,” “Jehovah witness” song, and marshmallow treats. These things don’t translate well to print but if I ever get an opportunity to sing to you and put these in context, I’d be sure to do so with little encouragement needed.

Rick was also a superb artist, drawing the Charlie Brown characters with an accuracy that had us awestruck.

One late summer afternoon, bored with the usual summer activities, the girls—Anne, Diana, and I —combined the contents of our closets to create a fashion show on Agosta’s deck in which we got to wear each others’ clothes. Rick served as emcee, Chuck and his dad took photos of the event.

How lucky we were to have such a magical, memorable, childhood together. I treasure my memories of Rick. What a beautiful person. I am glad I got to see him in the past few years and correspond with him over the last year and read How’s Rick, which was special in so many ways. I am deeply sorry for your loss.

Love to you all.

Kathleen