XXXVII: The Living Years
Richard Alvin Heskett passed away this morning due to a massive heart attack. He was attempting to get his snow blower started and apparently passed out. He was pronounced dead at Ball Memorial Hospital in Muncie, IN after all attempts to revive him failed.
He was born in Wurtzburg, Germany as his father was a member os the US Army occupation forces. There is a picture of his as a baby in the arms of his mother, on one of the observation platforms on the Eiffel Tower. He was apparently something of a hellion as a young man, but was proud of playing catcher on the Saline HS Hornets baseball team. He was a soldier whose job was to repair tactical nuclear weapons, an electronics technician, a salesman of medical diagnostic equipment, and a warehouse supervisor for a small video rental company. He was divorced and became homeless when his alcoholism was completely out of control. He was in the Ann Arbor VA hospital receiving treatment when Operation Desert Shield began and to clear beds, they sent him to another VA facility in Indiana. There he got control of his life again, married Beverly and returned to college, earning his bachelor of science and later a masters of science from Ball State University. He became a professor and chief lab director for the Ivy Tech Community College system in Indiana, finally retiring two years ago.
He was a lover of nature, history, science fiction, and games of all sort. He liked camping, shooting black powder, and tending to his gardens. He hated living in cities and loved the rural countryside. He is survived by his widow, Beverly, his three sons Kenneth , Stephen , and Adam , two step-sons David John and Jason, four grand-sons, Miles, Collin, Alden, and Jeremy, four brothers William, James, Allen, and Robert, as well as two sisters Sherri and Kati.
He was born in Wurtzburg, Germany as his father was a member os the US Army occupation forces. There is a picture of his as a baby in the arms of his mother, on one of the observation platforms on the Eiffel Tower. He was apparently something of a hellion as a young man, but was proud of playing catcher on the Saline HS Hornets baseball team. He was a soldier whose job was to repair tactical nuclear weapons, an electronics technician, a salesman of medical diagnostic equipment, and a warehouse supervisor for a small video rental company. He was divorced and became homeless when his alcoholism was completely out of control. He was in the Ann Arbor VA hospital receiving treatment when Operation Desert Shield began and to clear beds, they sent him to another VA facility in Indiana. There he got control of his life again, married Beverly and returned to college, earning his bachelor of science and later a masters of science from Ball State University. He became a professor and chief lab director for the Ivy Tech Community College system in Indiana, finally retiring two years ago.
He was a lover of nature, history, science fiction, and games of all sort. He liked camping, shooting black powder, and tending to his gardens. He hated living in cities and loved the rural countryside. He is survived by his widow, Beverly, his three sons Kenneth , Stephen , and Adam , two step-sons David John and Jason, four grand-sons, Miles, Collin, Alden, and Jeremy, four brothers William, James, Allen, and Robert, as well as two sisters Sherri and Kati.