Rick "The Friendly Lighthouse Keeper!"

Yesterday was a good day, until our dear friend Tracy called around 9:30 PM to tell us the sad news that out dear friend,  Rick "The Friendly Lighthouse Keeper" in Port Aransas, had lost his battle with cancer.

We knew that Rick's time wasn't long, because we had been told that the doctors had given him weeks, so when we received the sad news—we were not prepared for it and we were without words, because we had just spoken to Rick on Sunday and he had sounded upbeat. And we are so glad that the conversation with him ended with him telling us he loved us and we told him that we loved him more. Anyway, that's life and it is what it is. Rick's gone and he is not coming back.

Losing loved ones is so difficult. And at my ripe old age, the worse part of getting old seems to be  I'm saying more and more "goodbyes" to loved ones. The numbers just keep increasing. But enough said about that.

Rick Reichenbach will be missed by many and he was a good man that followed his dreams and my favorite thing about Rick is he was always smiling and laughing, if he wasn't teasing me.

People were drawn to Rick, because of his quick wit and his humorous tales of his fascinating life. Such as; being famous for being "Rick, The Friendly Lighthouse Keeper" and just remembering some of Rick's hilarious tales about his adventures in Nicaraugua—has me smiling as I type this.

I also will never forget all of the fun we had visiting Rick at the lighthouse. Tony and I never went  alone to visit Rick without bringing along some of our dear friends, so we could share the awesome experience of being on a privately-owned island—that came with a working lighthouse and the funniest lighthouse keeper in the whole wide world.

On many of those fun-filled evenings, we would sit out on the beautiful porch, overlooking the gorgeous bay, enjoying adult beverages, with us playing guitars and mandolins, while our friends: John or Carol or Jon & Sandy or Fourth or Mark & Denise or Fourth and Jimmy or Cindy & Ray and Ronnie or Pete & Kelly or Tracy or Cindy and Nita or Chet relaxing and waving to the friendly sightseeing yachts that would stop and anchor nearby, so the tourists could take pictures of us and the famous lighthouse. And to me it was one of those once in a lifetime experiences we got to share with our dear friends and family, thanks to sweet Rick.

Texas Monthly's April 2012 issue did a story about Rick being the "Friendly Lighthouse Keeper." And here is a link to that fabulous article. Please click here. Below is a picture of the Texas Monthly article and the photograph of Rick and the lighthouse is by Kenny Braun.

And here is one of my favorite photos of Rick that I took of him during the 2012 holiday season. Here he is pretending to be warming himself near the fake "wood burning fireplace" that I had programmed to loop on the DVD player for ambience.

Late this morning I called Kinky to tell him the sad news about Rick's passing and the news saddened him, too. "....Rick was a really good man and I wish him God's speed..."

There is so much more that I could say about good ol' Rick and how much his friendship meant to Tony and me, but I've written enough for now. So, "Rest in Peace, Rick. You will not be forgotten. Love Always, Nancy"