Rickfest: A Tribute to Love

Beth Hill, of Welland, holds a heart shaped rock she found on the beach and had painted for her husband, Rick, for their wedding. Beth is organizing a fundraiser, called Rickfest, in tribute to her late husband.

  Published in Niagara This Week - June 9, 2011 Rickfest Article Link
"I have been told that the more I tell his story; the easier it will get,” says Beth Hill. “That the tears are kind of like poison and once they’re out it will get better.”


And there are tears as she shares tales of her late husband, Rick Hill, but there are also giggles as she remembers certain quirks, such as his perpetual lateness. But, without a doubt, love is the dominant

feeling throughout the conversation.

It has been nearly nine months since Rick passed away suddenly after suffering a short illness. He was 51. Beth says it is still unbelievable that Rick is gone.

“He was such a vibrant man. There are times where I think there is just no way that he could be gone
.”

Beth and Rick were friends for more than 20 years before the relationship became romantic; and when it did progress to that stage it was very intense.

“It’s kind of a whole fairy tale thing. We were really good friends and we each married the wrong people and had children. Our marriages fell apart and in the mean time he picked up his family and moved to Arizona,” she explains. “I was off, now living on my own. He came home to visit his parents who live down the street from mine and happened to stop to talk to my mom.”

Beth’s mom suggested Rick stop in to see Beth at work.

“And he just showed up in my classroom where I am a French teacher. There was this electricity that went through the room. It was the strangest thing. I hadn’t seen in for five years at that point, but we met for breakfast the next day and that was it. The connection was there.”

They had a long distance relationship for three years, then Rick moved back to Welland and they were married on the beach of Lake Erie.

Beth says Rick had several passions and lived each day to it’s full potential. Rick was an entrepreneur by nature and had several businesses ongoing at any given time.

“We would laugh and say what is it you haven’t done? He sold trailers for Sherkston. He went into business with video signs. He was renovating a building on Southworth so he could put his photography studio in it. He loved cooking. He did the work of five people.”

She says because of his outgoing personality and genuine concern for others, Rick made a lot of friends.

“He was routinely late. But nine times out of ten it was because he was doing something for somebody else that he thought was important enough that everybody else can wait. He had an ability to connect to everyone from babies to the people he delivered the mail to.
”

Rick was a postal worker for 22 years.

“There was a lady on the street he delivered to and her son committed suicide. Rick made sure in those weeks afterwards that she ate to the extent that he brought her soup and sat there while she ate it and then kept going on his route.
”

When Rick died several of his friends approached Beth about putting together a fundraiser to create a bursary fund for Niagara College and scholarship for a Centennial photography student in his honour. The third component of the fundraiser is help with education costs for the five children Rick and Beth had between them.

Rickfest will be held on August 6 at 480 Metler Road in Fenwick. There will be entertainment, prizes and food. Beth believes having the fundraiser is the best way to pay tribute to Rick.

“We somehow have to share the love that came out of that man because there was a hell of a lot of it,” she says. “We’re basically using Rick’s passion to help other people who have that same passion, but may not be in a place financially to do it.”

Beth has a challenge to those who knew Rick, or was connected to him in some way.

“My challenge to all who were at Rick’s funeral is to go out there and make this man
’s legacy a reality. Do at least on good thing in his name. Do it in that spirit of taking care of people. People are more important than things.”

Beth’s voice softens as she glances at the urn of Rick’s ashes on her mantel. Beside the urn is a heart shaped rock.

“I found the rock on the beach and had it painted for him for our wedding,” she says. “It’s my heart. There was no doubt in my mind that it was going to be the two of us for the rest of time. But that was when I thought I had some control, which I don’t.”

Beth pauses and points to a photo of Rick sporting a huge smile.

“You never knew what was going on behind that grin. You didn
’t know whether he was going to surprise you or if he had yet another idea or whether he was just content. There were just so many facets to that grin. It’s what I miss the most actually.”

Tickets for Rickfest are available online at
www.rickfest.ca. It is $50 for food, entertainment and donation; $20 for entertainment only; kids 12 and under are free. They are still looking for entertainment, silent auction prizes and volunteers.