Rik was born in 1960 in Saudi Arabia, where his father was working. The family moved to Bellevue in 1969. Rik was the cherished son of Richard and Yulanda, who devoted their lives to making Rik’s life the best it could be, and giving him freedom to do many things independently. As a child, Rik was able to travel all over the world with his family, and he continued traveling with his parents well into his 30s. He graduated from Interlake in 1978.
Rik had Williams Syndrome, and he was blessed with many special qualities and abilities. Exuberant and infectiously joyful, his sweetness could take your breath away.
Rik was both serious and silly. A frequent statement of Rik’s was, “You know, I’m really curious.” He was curious about almost everything. His questions could be as varied as: “What is a conglomerate?” to “What are clouds made of?” He loved to do research on his iPad. Minutiae was not trivial to him. For some things, his memory would amaze people. He was both wondrous about the world, as well as a constant wonder.
Rik loved to make people laugh as much as he loved to laugh. He loved languages, whether foreign languages or asking where a word came from. He made you think. Reduplicative rhymes (hodgepodge, hoity-toity, malarkey, and murgatroyd_ made him giggle. His own family nickname “RikRak” was even a reduplicative. Friends endearingly called him Rikki. He thought “Zoinks!” was the funniest word, he loved cars that backfired, and he had a knack for cartoon imitations, including a perfect Donald Duck impression: “Aw, phooey.”
He was very determined. Rik enjoyed skateboarding and riding his bike into his 30s. He loved electronics, from his early Atari game system, to his old-school handheld electronic games, all the way up to his cherished iPad. These past few years, he methodically read the instructions and enjoyed building many different Lego sets. He started the countdown to his next birthday pretty much right after his current birthday ended. When asked what he wanted for his birthday, Rik would answer, “Love.”
Rik was proud of the work he did at Custom Industries Sheltered Workshop in Bellevue during high school and after graduation. The quantifiable results reflected in a day’s production count were right up his alley. Rik was selected to participate in the International Special Olympics World Games in Indiana in 1987, was he proud to win a gold medal. He was also proud of bowling a 200 game at the local Special Olympics bowling tournament. Pre-pandemic, he enjoyed activities with Highland Center (and their great staff), bowling, and visiting Crossroads Mall. He had health issues, yet he was near bionic, and he was always heartfelt in his determination.
Everybody was Rik’s best friend, and he was an enthusiastic conversationalist. His friends meant the world to him and he would want them to know that. Rik was perceptive, compassionate, and could quickly read a person’s face or physicality for their feelings or illnesses. Yet to many he was a difficult read. He revealed so much in a look, a nod, a gesture, his beautiful green eyes. He could be the salve to your day.
Rik had no prejudices, and he especially loved meeting people from other countries so he could get to know them and ask them questions. He loved his housemates and caregivers at the adult family home where he lived for six years.
A bit of a savant, Rik was a whiz at memorizing numbers and information. In minutes he could memorize both the full logins and the passwords for seven different Zoom calls a week. Rik also liked to read obituaries. He was a beautiful, richly complex, smart man. His inner world was deep. He was so much more. He was fun. He was pure love. If you told him he was a superstar, he would say, “I’m just me.”
Sadly, Rik passed away peacefully on June 9, 2024 after a short illness. He was 64 years old.
He will be missed forever.
His obituary can be found here.
