I first talked to Rick in October, 1986. I had recently moved
to Kennebunkport from Colorado, and had just bought my first A500, and Rick was running a BBS
on a Commodore 64. In 1989 I bought a modem and logged on to Harbour
Lights BBS for the first time. By now Rick was running
the BBS on an Amiga
2000, and I found a home, and soon the wide world of Fido. Rick
and I became close friends over the next years; we had a lot in
common (Amigas, babes,
music, we were both ultra-conservatives), and we took quite a
few road trips, including a memorable one to Boston in the Spring
of 1993 to meet Mary Ryan and Paula Liberman of the Boston Computer
Society, and Asha DeVelder who flew in from the Left Coast for
the occasion. Rick had a number of physical problems and had a
lot of bad days, but on the good days he lived live to the fullest,
like a kid in a candy store. Time passed and so did Commodore
and one day in mid 1995 Rick , always faithful to his Amiga, posted a message in the
Fido Amiga echo with Ricardo.Amiga Charter
Member, Team AMIGA in his signature as a joke. This
seemed to strike just the right note for the time and he was deluged
with messages from people asking how to join. Rick jumped on the
chance to further the Amiga cause, and soon people from around
the world had *Team Amiga* after their names.
Rick passed away in the Summer of 1996. With the help of Asha
and Rick's brother Larry, the TA database was transferred to the
capable hands of Gary Peake in September, 1996 and I'd like to
think that Rick's love of the Amiga
lives on in `his' Team.
John Maguire, Sysop
Harbour Lights BBS, Mousam River BBS
Kennebunkport, Maine
December, 1998
