Richard L. DeWorken Obituary (1951 - 2023)

Dan Lamb '70 said:

I was sad to learn that Rick had passed. I realize dying is not such an unexpected outcome for someone our age. I recall when he and I were cub scouts at a meeting held one evening at the De Laveaga Park Clubhouse. At the closing of the meeting, someone from among the adult leadership shared a closing prayer. During the prayer, Rick and I, briefly, unexpectedly, out-of-the-blue began to laugh; we couldn’t hold it back. I don’t know why. Boy did I hear it from my mom (a devout Catholic) when we arrived home.

Rick and I surfed a lot at Cowell Beach. I felt safe around him. He was twice my size, and he was a skilled wrestler as well. As a surfer in the 1960’s, one needed to be careful to adhere to the “rules” that governed the behavior at the surfing spots. Sometimes He and I would hit Cowell’s around 5:30am just to avoid the madness. Rick’s dad and mom were divorced. Rick lived with his mother, and she was just amazing. I recalled the day that his dad came to his house and handed him a new surfboard. I felt so happy for him. I grew up having a father in the home; he didn’t. He allowed me to use his new board many times. I had never had a new board during this time in my life. I learned to surf on popouts – inexpensive boards I could afford with my paper route earnings.

Rick later got married to his girlfriend and he began managing one of his dad’s furniture stores. I began to lose my connection to Rick about this time. I wanted to earn a college degree and that meant moving away from home. I would eventually learn that his marriage had ended, and his business had suffered. I had later wondered what had happened to him, what he had become as an aging adult male – like me.