THE UNCOMMON MAN
By PDG Russ Hobbs, Rotary Club of Santa Cruz
What a blessing in my life it has been to know Richard D. King. Just two days ago, some of us were having lunch with him after his recent time in the hospital, and he was joking about how his doctor told him it was time to ":dust off some of his old speeches and get back to speaking." But now (October 10, 2023) that beautiful baritone voice is silent.
Rick was really more of a story-teller than a speech giver; he never used a Power Point presentation with bullet points to get his message across. Rather, he used words that touched our hearts and made us laugh or moved us to tears to make his points. A Rick King speech was more like a "magic carpet ride." Rick knew how to capture an audience and transport us to another time and place where he and Cheri had been, and Cheri was always an important part of every story. As a Past President of Rotary International, Rick with Cheri at his side traveled to every corner of the world, met with Rotarians, kings and queens, prime ministers, and the presidents of most of the countries in the world. But he told me when I was District Governor that "no club was too small for him to come and give a talk." Rick believed that Rotary was how God used ordinary people to do his work on earth, and his personal and Rotary motto was "Mankind is Our Business."There are some people that are just "Bigger than Life" and Rick King was that to me. He served his country with distinction as District Governor in 1982-1983. He serve our Zone with distinction as the Zone director in 1989-1991. And he served Rotary International with distinction as the International President in 2001-2002. I loved hearing Rick talk about "the early days" when he would be suing in the morning, singing in Las Vegas in the evening (where he met his wife Cheri), and then flying back home in the wee hours of the morning. When Cheri agreed to marry Rick, she asked him "how long does this Rotary stuff last," to which he responded - it is just for one year honey, so don't worry about it. But like their marriage, it lasted for a lifetime.
I know tht we all have our favorite memories of Rick, and as I thought about mine, I first thought about the time Rick did his cabaret show at my District Conference in Monterey, Rick sang his favorite songs, Cheri danced, and I got to accompany hi on my drums. I thought about the time I got to be his aid for three days at Richard Flanders' District Conference in San Ramon. But I think my favorite memory was two days ago when some of us got to just sit with Rick and chat at his favorite mom and pop restaurant in Danville, while having a burger & fries. We have all heard Rick give his speech about "the Uncommon Man", and ask the question "Who Touched You?" And for most of us the easy answer is Rick touched us, because he was the Uncommon Man.''
Rest in peace my friend.