From Rick's Wife

[Taknar]

Hey guys,

I've had contact with Natasha now regarding the bench. Here is the e-mail which she sent me, and gave permission to repost here:



Good Morning Shawn,

First off I would like to thank you for your on-line condolences in the
loss of my husband. Our children and I are all still in a state of
shock. We knew this was coming but we didn't expect it to be so soon.
Thankfully, we have so many wonderful and loving memories of Rick to get
us through. Secondly, I apologize for taking so long to respond to your
request that I contact you. I didn't realize that there was so much
paper work to be filed, etc. when one suffers the loss of a husband, and
it's taken up so much of my time. I also had Rick's family with me to
keep me occupied. Yesterday, was truly the first day I had almost
nothing to do so I went shopping. Normally, Rick and I would go
shopping together on Saturday's as that was when he did a lot of the
shopping for the meals he likes to prepare for us. It was a rather
lonely shopping spree. :-(

However, enough of my problems. You mentioned a bench in Rick's
memory. I think that sounds like a very nice idea and he would be
humbled for sure. However, my fear is that placing a bench in a park
would lead thugs to destroy it. There's a park near our home with
playground equipment and you wouldn't believe the terrible things that
are written on equipment meant for small children. I'll never
understand why people take pleasure in destroying property but they do.
One option is placing a bench at his place of rest or I could contact
the Captain of his ship to see about having one placed where the ships
dock. If you like we can continue to come up with a solution via e-mail
or feel free to contact me by phone. Our phone number is *** ***-****.

I will try to contact each person he gamed with who offered their
condolences on-line, or perhaps you could post this e-mail on your
community site, or even provide them with this e-mail address so that
way they can get in contact with me in their own time.

Again, thank you for your condolences and the suggestion of a park
bench. What a lovely way to remember him. He was a truly amazing
father and husband and he lives on in our hearts.

Sincerely,

Natasha Mohr



Natasha's opinion regarding the park bench makes a great deal of sense to me, and I personally think that the best option is to contact Rick's Captain about putting the bench near his ship's harbour. The people who frequent the harbour are less likely to put shame on Rick's memory; as with most military, the Canadian Armed Forces trains respect along with skill.

At this time, I'd like anyone who is interested in doing fundraising for this bench to drop me a note at shawn.drape(at)sympatico.ca or here in this thread (or both). Many of us have amazing talents that we can put to use to raise some money for this, ranging from drawing to skulpting to singing to sewing to earning shit loads of money in their own right. With your notification of support, I'd also like your opinion on the bench's location, and what it should say. Natasha (and by proxy her family) will get final say in *everything*, so keep that in mind when you are bringing up suggestions. Anything on the bench that mentions WoW, the TNG, or gaming in particular will most likely be shot down by her.

As per Natasha's request, I will be able to give out an e-mail to contact the family at, but I will do so in PMs upon request.

Any other questions/comments/concerns should be posted in replies below. Thanks.

[Chikt]

I would love to help out with this somehow. I think we can work out a way for me to send over some money (Money order or Pay Pal maybe? I'm not sure). I've got a whole bunch of money sitting in the bank from working over the Christmas period and I'd love to donate some of it. I can make up the difference before I start classes to cover my university fees.

Do you know how much approximately we're looking at needing to raise for the bench?

[Moknim]

I, as well, will donate what I can.

I think contacting the Captain is a wonderful idea - for some reason I think it should be somewhere near the sea.

[Xaraphyne]

I can e-mail you, but I'll just tell you right here that I can be involved in all fundraiding and donation activities. I also think a bench near the ship's dock is a wonderful idea.

[Taknar]

Here's more input from Natasha, which I'm happy to share with you. She is really enthusiastic about the idea now and that's a relief for me.


Hi Shawn,

I spoke with a friend of Rick's today who has been our Assisting Officer assigned to us by the Military. I mentioned your idea of a bench in Rick's memory and he thought it was a wonderful idea. He's presenting the idea to the Base Chief. I don't know what sort of engraving or etching, etc., if any you guys had in mind but I would like something that honor's Rick as a husband, father and sailor. However, you TNG'ers are responsible for this nice idea. What if we compromised and honored him with a line out of one of his stories or poems. Perhaps, something simple. Does that sound good to you? The bench will be placed on the Base somewhere and will have to be granted approval as to where. Our Assisting Officer suggested the Base Soccer Field as Rick used to coach soccer. Does this sound ok to you?

Thanks Shawn.

.......Natasha

.......and feel free to post this on the website.


I responded to it already saying that I think the soccer field is a great place for such a bench since it is on base and it's somewhere he spent a lot of time with his kids and family. She mentioned maybe having something from his writings and the Feralas poem came to mind immediately, but I want more opinions on it first before we go making any recommendations.

I have no idea about the cost at this point, and likely won't until we get a thumbs up from the Base Chief. Once we have a figure, I will work with Natasha and Villy to create a paypal or something that people can donate to. I want to have Villy involved in that step since she is the public face for the site and people will trust sending money to her moreso than me. I want to dispel (cause I'm a priest *nudge nudge*) any fears that this is a scam to take advantage of grieving peoples. I want Natasha also involved for obvious reasons.

[Grainia]

I can e-mail you, but I'll just tell you right here that I can be involved in all fundraiding and donation activities. I also think a bench near the ship's dock is a wonderful idea.

^^ This. The footy field sounds perfect.

Let me know anything that I can do.

[Advurb]

I want to dispel (cause I'm a priest *nudge nudge*) any fears that this is a scam to take advantage of grieving peoples.

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

But seriously, the soccer field idea sounds awesome. Definitely hope the Base Chief approves it.

[Daedraug]

My favorite role playing memory of Rick was when he and I took up the Scarlet Scorpid/Black Hawk monikers every so often. If its something especially artistic we're looking for then this may not help, but he signed all his SS messages 'Vigilant as Always,' and I can't help but think that might be an appropriate option.