We’ve not written a post like this before. We don’t know how it’s going to turn out. Our desire is to honor our good friend, Rick Smith, who died Wednesday morning 16July. A good friend of ours and a reader of our blog called the week after and, knowing how much we loved Rick and knowing many of our friends read our blog, recommended our next post be on celebrating Rick’s life. We thanked her for her recommendation and have been trying to figure out how best to do that. So here goes.
Rick Smith. I met Rick in 1956. We were incoming freshmen at Albion College, Michigan. We didn’t know anybody, but when I was playing my electric guitar in my room a number of incoming students came in with their instruments including Smith with no instrument but a love of good music just the same. We headed downstairs where there was more room for our large group. Yes, we had some good music in that room, and yes, we had some good music downstairs. After all these years, I am still friends with some of them and see some of them on occasional trips to Michigan.
That group includes Bob & Wanda Bartlett, (Bob stand up bass and the originator of our orchestra) and Nova Wyse, her husband Jim, an excellent sax and clarinet player, passed away Christmas Eve, 2014, Bob Bartlett & Jim went on (although beginning our college careers) to form an orchestra from our group that day. Bartlett asked Charles Schulz if we could use the Charlie Brown name-- Schulz said yes after listening to a tape of our music, and we became the Charlie Brown Orchestra (22 strong at our largest).
People would write to us “Dear Mr. Brown—Could you come and play for our prom on xx date?” Through all of this Smith was always right there, supporting us. He even faked a sax solo one evening when we were rushing to get out of town before local members of the American Federation of Musicians who were trying to determine how many of our orchestra were card carrying AFM musicians. Jim, while backstage packing up equipment, was playing the music Smith was faking. We successfully left town with all of our equipment and AFM NOT determining our AFM members and Smith’s fake solo was legendary.
Education/Career. Smith earned a bachelors degree from Albion College and a masters degree from Michigan State University. He taught middle school for six years and worked as a seasonal park ranger at Yellowstone National Park. Rick joined the Peace Corps in 1968 where he became an instructor in the University of Ascension in Paraguay. He enjoyed his job as a National Park Service Ranger and ‘followed his passion” into the National Park Service where he stayed until his retirement after thirty grand years.
Delta Tau Delta. Albion had a timing requirement for fraternity and sorority pledging—your Junior year. Rick and I pledged Delta Tau Delta in our Junior year. As did most of the orchestra. Rick and I were roommates in the Delt house our Junior and Senior years.
Kathy Smith, Bill & Kim Smith. Kathy sent us a writeup of Rick’s life. We have used this throughout this writing often using her words. In this writeup, Kathy pointed out that “he is survived by his wife of 45 years, Kathy Smith.” What this did not say was how difficult it often was for Kathy being with Rick on moves to National Park locations where the offerings for spouses were limited or non-existent. We admire how well Kathy managed these situations. Mary & I have also gotten to know Rick’s brother, Bill and his wife, Kim. In addition to being really good people, it happens that brother Bill attended Albion! Go Brits!
Spanish Speaking. Rick’s proficiency in speaking Spanish served him well in his NPS retirement. Kathy advised Rick “was a much sought-after consultant in Latin American countries on national park management, natural resources protection, and ranger training. He consulted in every Latin American country except Venezuela.” Kathy advised Rick “was dedicated to the protection of the National Park system and the development of park rangers.”
Depth of Career. Rick’s NPS career was long and varied. As we’ve mentioned his NPS career began with seasonal ranger positions at Yellowstone. He became an instructor at the Albright Ranger Training Center in Grand Canyon. He was a Legislative Affairs Specialist in Washington D.C., coordinating national park legislation with Congress. He found time to be Superintendent of Fredericksburg Battlefield and Manager of a Special Task Force in Alaska to protect newly created national monuments. (This does not give you a sense of how hard this job was. I’ve looked into it and talked with Rick.) He became Assistant Superintendent of Everglades National Park. (I visited him on this assignment, learned a lot and was much impressed.) (We also slapped a lot of sizable mosquitoes.) You are getting the impression this guy accomplished almost all NPS assignments except NPS Director. (I wish Rick were the NPS Director right now.) Other positions included Superintendent of Carlsbad Caverns and Guadalupe National Parks. His second to last position was Associate Regional Director of Park Operations and Cultural Resources for the Southwest region (the NPS divides their parks into regional offices. This position was really up there, the Southwest region. Rick was very proud of it. His last assignment in 1994 was Acting Superintendent of Yellowstone National Park--his first park when he was a seasonal ranger. (I don’t believe they could have made him more proud with any other assignment.)
Calls to Me. I have, unfortunately, been on the receiving end of some bad medical news. Rick called me each day to see how I was doing. When Rick was ill, I made similar calls. I will miss our calls.
Celebration of Rick’s Life. I hope the foregoing will be an important part of our celebration of Rick’s life. I don’t believe we ever had a bad word. We survived college together, we survived life together, we loved each other, we learned from each other and tried to inspire each other. We love you, Rick!
Photos. The one photo shows Rick & me in May 1977, running the Yampa, a Westward flowing river thru Dinosaur National Monument at the confluence of the Yampa and the Green rivers in northwest Colorado and northeast Utah, Rick the boatman. The Green flows South to the Colorado, a major source of water for the people living in the Southwest. The Rocky Mountain landscape is glorious.
The second photo is an early photo of the Charlie Brown orchestra. Each of us had a tux. I still have mine but can’t fit into the pants. We also each had white dinner jackets. We would decide job after job what to wear. We charged approximately $400 for an evening, less for a smaller group. Of the $400 each of us received approximately $20. The rest went to buying music. Instead of dancing, many patrons stayed around the band encouraging the music.
